Wind farms could have 'devastating impact' (From Gazette & Herald)

Wind farms could have 'devastating impact'

BRITAIN could have an area double the size of the North York Moors National Park covered by wind farms if Government plans go ahead, claims a leading rural conservation organisation.

Jill Hatcher, senior natural resources campaigner for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), says in a report that so many wind farms would have "a potentially devastating impact" on the English countryside. She said the CPRE had now issued a challenge to the Government, outlining ten tests on the policy on planning for renewable resources.

"The Government must get planning for renewables - the development of windturbines - right. It must not blow it to the detriment of beautiful landscapes."

She said turbines reached two-thirds of the height of the towers of the Humber Bridge. "Their increasing numbers threatens to devastate the beauty, tranquility and diversity of the countryside."

So far, no applications for wind farms have been submitted for the Ryedale or the national park area, but the CPRE says it is campaigning throughout Yorkshire and the Humber region to ensure the planning process delivers on the objectives of the conservation group.

"We cannot build our way out of climate change with wind turbines," said Ms Hatcher. "The Government needs to place much greater emphasis on planning to reduce our need for energy and making it relevant to people's lives. We need new policies to vastly increase the number of small-scale and community-based energy schemes across the country."

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, October 22, 2003