East Midlands: Your comments on the programme...

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Some of your comments on the latest programme...

We were concerned that the BBC had accepted several points in what we would describe as "developer speak".
Site: Long Bennington, The closest large village is in fact Bottesford by a reasonable distance, it also has 1,000 more residents. (Normanton and Allington are even closer) A exhibition was held by the developer only when "invited" by MBC, over 1 month AFTER planning had been put in Power: Enough for up to 13,000 homes (not likely). The electricity cannot be directed to people's homes.
The developers own claimed figure is 30% of 23 MW or 6.9 MW. This sounds a lot until you realise that even modest sized gas fired power stations in the East Midlands start at 790 MW rated output. So if the wind blows enough, 10 huge turbines will generate less than 1% of a modest power station.
You would need 1,145 turbines! and they would produce nothing when there is no wind (AND this is using the developer's output claim). It is not being made clear by the media in general that Large Turbine does not equal Large Output.
We do not consider ourselves to be anti renewable, in fact this proposed development has opened our eyes to the mess we are in regarding electrical power.
In writing this we hope that both you and the BBC will bring to the attention of the general public:
The huge numbers of turbines that are needed to make a significant electrical contribution
The small amount of CO2 saved. (supported by Ofgem and NAO) The fact that they cannot replace any conventional power station as wind is intermittent
The real health concerns for homes within 2 km of large turbines
Mo and Peter Caswell

As part of the public consultation programme, Infinergy held three public exhibitions in the local area (Long Bennington, Allington, Bottesford).
The results from the questionnaires that people were asked to fill in show that over half of the local residents support the scheme: 51% in favour; 34% against and the rest undecided. A poll in Grantham Journal last week showed over 75% in support of the proposal.
Marlies Koutstaal

It does seem to be a case of I am committed to green energy but NOT IN MY BACK YARD.
Surely there is a case for renewable energy to have some sort of priority. Perhaps a plan from central Government is the way forward. Not just "Targets". I feel that the last review of planning regulations was short sighted. It would have been easy to include a renewable energy clause on all domestic and commercial new builds, to force the building industry to install 50% renewable energy into all new builds.
This would drive the renewable energy industry to produce better products and the volume would drive the costs down.
This is easy for me to say as I live in the Peak Park. Whose planning rules are such that it is virtually imposable to have any wind or solar units comical or domestic?
Malcolm Rattray

It is true to say that wind turbines are the most reliable and proven method of producing emission free energy and I fully support most planning applications with the caveat that National Parks and areas of outstanding national beauty should be protected.
I have had a planning application approved for turbines on my farm and have first hand experience of the procedure. It has taken 5 years of preparation and nearly two years in planning to get this far and it will be another two years before clean electricity is actually generated.
It is the length of the processes involved that explains why the renewable energy targets, set by national Government, are lagging so far behind. I am aware of five more applications in the close district at various stages of planning and also of three applications that have been refused in the region.
Whilst I would fiercely guard the individuals right to object to any planning application I am equally sure the National Interest would be well served if all the standard arguments against wind farms were addressed centrally once and for all, rather than at each application which then becomes protracted while Environmental impact assessments go over and over the same points. If local authorities were allowed to concentrate just on planning issues of local significance I feel the process would be eased without affecting the potential outcome.
I dread to think how many man-hours and how much money has been spent trying to convince planners that wind turbines are / are not noisy. In this example I would suggest that all modern turbines are known to work well below the accepted noise emission standards and as such the noise debate should be removed from anyone's argument.
Mark Warrener

People are scared of anything new. Pylons have been striding across our land for years and years. We do not pay them a second glance. They are part of the rural scene now. Also, what we sentimentally call rural views are man made.
We put the fields there and the hedges and we use massive machinery to dig up the land and yet no body complains about that. We dig up whole swathes of countryside to put more roads and wider roads yet no one complains about that.
They also bring noise and pollution but we accept them because we think we need more and wider roads. We also allow landfill dumps and quarries with all the associated heavy traffic and real pollution they cause.
We allow giant incinerators and the pollution they bring. We scar the countryside with open cast mines yet we allow that to happen. We big build big out of town shopping centres rather than using local shops so our towns become deserted and dangerous places. Yet when someone wants to put something clean and green which will ensure our future all of sudden we are up in arms about it.
I have spoken to many people who are against wind farms and it is all down to money. They feel the price of their house will go down. I will tell you what. The price of their house will go down if we do not do something soon about climate change and their house is flooded and they cannot get insurance or they have to move out of their house and live in a caravan for months on end.
What price then a rural view? These anti wind people are just plain selfish and concerned more with money than the environment - and by environment I mean more than just a pretty view. Just build the turbines and let people get used to them. They will do given time.
Jane Burd

Man-made climate change is the greatest threat that we face today, it threatens not only our way of life but possibly our very future.
We simply have to reduce our carbon emissions and that means changing the way we generate the electricity we all use in our daily lives, this means moving away from polluting fossil fuels towards truly sustainable and renewable forms of energy, such as wind, solar and hydro.
Wind power is the most developed of all of the renewables and the most able to generate clean, green energy on a large scale, it is also the most cost effective. The UK has 40% of the European wind resource and on average, our wind farms are twice as efficient as those in Europe.
Time is running out to address climate change, and wind power, both on and offshore must play a key role in our energy mix.

Jonathan, Lincoln

I live in a small hamlet of seven people. I have 2/3 acres of land and would gladly have a wind turbine for our hamlet on my property but it is the cost. I have thought about getting in touch with someone to make enquiries but I dont know who.
I live near Retford in Nottinghamshire and there is nothing around me but fields and there is a good wind coming through my land. I think they are magnificent and they do not give off much sound.
my father lives near Chester le Street, co Durham and he has them all around him and no one notices them. what is the difference between these wind turbines and big ugly statues?
Mary Usher

There is no Planet B.
Please let this simple unavoidable fact sink in a while, we only have very little time, some say less than 10 years to get ourselves together and change the way we generate our electricity.
Fact :24 independent survey's since 1992 till now have ALL shown massive public support for wind farms across the country, in theory and when built(averaging over 85%, with around 10% undecided leaving a paltry 5% against).
The majority of people find wind turbines 'Graceful, beautiful, iconic, amazing', only an insignificant, vociferous, vested minority oppose them.
Arguing over semantics of Visual impact is simply criminal, subjecting millions across the planet to further climate change misery, considering that the overwhelming majority find them attractive or have no issue with them.
Wind farms are the most readily available technology we have, key to our need for a more diverse range of renewable technologies, especially in the U.K.
We cannot and will not await another 30 years for another techno fix, they are available NOW to make considerable progress with our desperately needed carbon cuts, and with an outstanding record of producing enormous amounts of Clean, infinite waste free energy, humans have designed to date.
Our planet has seen many changes and many species wiped out, leaving just fossils, will we join the list due to our own greed/fear of change.
Bryan Norris

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