Problems with Wind

(Sorry this is a long diatribe, but I've included some pretty pictures for you to look at too)

Resolving the competing demands of interested parties is the bread and butter of us 'planners' (town and country planners/urban and regional planners/those numbskulls at the council whatever you like to call them). And one of the prerequisites of being a 'planner' is to be able to try to appreciate everyone's point of view and to assess how valid their concerns and expectations are. Its easy really.....

The problems associated with doing this balancing act, and making an independent and objective choice is made all the more difficult when the issues involved affect your home and family. Renewable energy. There's something we can all support. Cutting down on fossil fuels, reducing our carbon footprint, combatting global warming and ultimately helping save the planet. It's a no-brainer (unless your Sarah Palin or Jeremy Clarkson of course) - renewable energy is 'a good thing'. Wind turbines - wow those majestic, elegant and graceful towers slowly turning in t he breeze, gently and quietly going about the business of energy creation. Certainly an improvement over the concrete blocks of coal fired and nuclear power stations belching out smoke and radioactive whatnot dotted around the remote coastlines or industrial areas of the country, isn't it? The problem is that the places where you need to put turbines are in the places that get most wind and they tend to be the high and remote places (although there is a great one alongside the M4 at Reading in the middle of a business park). And the problem with that is that the high and remote places are the places that are most unspoilt and therefore most in need of protection from any sort of development.

And therein lies the problem: It's conservation versus conservation : the conservation of energy and (ultimately) the planet versus the conservation of our natural heritage, the landscape and that feeling of tranquility and remoteness (an experience that increasingly becoming more difficult to find). Change is not of course necessarily a bad thing, indeed it can be a positive and necessary. There are wonderful examples of where man-made structures or interventions are perceived to enhance the landscape - just look at the field patterns that so define our countryside or the Fens or the Elan Valley Dams or all those Capability Brown designed estates. But I'm also sure that the landscape before such interventions was equally as breathtaking ( and I guess the former residents of Elan Valley or Brown's landscapes weren't so enamoured with the changes made when they were forced off their land and out of their homes). The rate of change in our landscape today is far faster than at any time in the past. Where do we draw the line and say enough is enough? We certainly can't stop development altogether in the countryside. For one thing some development can only happen in the countryside, and for another people need to live and work there - without new houses 'local' people are forced away, local builders have no work, local schools have fewer children etc etc. But allow unfettered development and we destroy the very thing that makes the British countryside what it is.

So back to Wind Farms. There is a small one proposed on the borders of Radnorshire near where Mum and Dad live. Inevitably, it will be visible from miles around and inevitably it will change the face of the landscape. Understandably there is some local resistance to that change; but there is also support from those that believe wind farms are a necessity and that the turbines will enhance the landscape. Its a classic balancing act, weighing up the pro's and cons; the costs and the benefits - Is there a 'cost' to the landscape and character of the Radnorshire border? And if there is does that cost outweigh the benefits of renewable energy and all that brings? If half a dozen masts are acceptable, what would the effect of a dozen or two dozen or a hundred - where do you draw the line - do you want to draw a line?

I'm glad I don't have to make the decision. But taking off my balanced, impartial and fair minded 'planners' hat and putting on my emotional 'former local resident' hat I really don't think I want to see turbines scattered around the landscape of this special and largely unspoilt part of the world.

Here endeth the lesson.

Sorry for taking up so much of your time..........