Letters | 10 March 2012

Blowback

Sir: Matt Ridley’s article ‘The Winds of Change’ (3 March) says that the government has finally seen through the wind energy scam. If this is the case, it is most welcome news to those who have been fighting on all fronts to keep Britain’s countryside clear of unwelcome, unnecessary and inappropriate wind farms.
In Mr Ridley’s own county, Northumberland, the amount of wind farm capacity planned and already with planning permission exceeds that in any other English county by several times. If the government is serious about its change of heart, and has at last appreciated the extent to which it has been hoodwinked by the wind industry, it should at once take steps to ensure that county planning policies are changed to prevent such development proceeding. Currently it seems that ‘the urgent need for wind energy’ and the ‘benefits arising from renewable energy’, quoted in every planning officer’s report, trump almost every other policy designed to protect and enhance the rural environment and economy.