The problem with onshore wind farms

Remember how David Cameron’s government was going to end Nimbyism by having local communities vote for new housing developments on their doorsteps? That didn’t end so well. Last October, following a shock defeat in the Amersham by-election, the Prime Minister gave up on building more new homes in the shires in favour of reverting to the line of least political resistance: the old favourite of trying to solve the housing shortage by building more new homes on brownfield land in the North.

Why, then, does the government think it will be any more successful trying to persuade us to accept wind farms on our doorsteps? Last week’s Energy Security Strategy held out the prospect of more onshore wind farms – ending a moratorium introduced by the Cameron government. Not that people will have wind farms forced upon them, mind. According to the strategy paper we are all so keen, deep down, to have a wind farm on our doorsteps that we grasp at the opportunity.