November 4, 2012
England

Opponent of village wind turbine brands applicant as ‘selfish’

Thame Gazette | 4 November 2012 | www.thametoday.co.uk

An opponent to a wind turbine bigger than Big Ben which could be built near Aylesbury has labelled the applicant as ‘selfish and unneighbourly’.

Ford Action Group Against Turbines member Richard Vanbergen believes Jeremy Elgin’s proposals for a 101m turbine at Lower Waldridge Farm would ‘do an enormous amount of damage’ to neighbours and claims it would not generate as much electricity as predicted.

Mr Elgin says his turbine would be in a remote place and noise would not be an issue. He also defended his measurements, saying the computer modelling system used is widely practised.

Mr Vanbergen described Mr Elgin’s data as ‘flawed’. The applicant expects the turbine to power 350 homes, but Mr Vanbergen said: “At best it will generate enough electricity for 121 houses. He is prepared to do hundreds of millions of pounds of damage to his neighbours in property value terms in order to gain a very small amount of electricity for which he will be paid a lot of money.

“I think that’s a very selfish and unneighbourly thing to do and clearly it should not be allowed.”

Mr Elgin expects to make a small profit on the £2million venture, but does not think it will make him a millionaire. He added: “Any form of infrastructure is going to have an effect on somebody somewhere.”

Mr Vanbergen does not believe climate change is greatly effected by human activity and described the Government’s renewable energy policy as ‘completely bananas’.

He said he was encouraged by a meeting with secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Davey MP. At this he was told subsidies will be cut and ‘government policy is now to promote renewable energy but only when it’s sensible to do so and when local people want it’. Mr Vanbergen said: “Clearly local people don’t want it here.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/11/04/opponent-of-village-wind-turbine-brands-applicant-as-selfish/