I WAS all set to join the Green Party in despair at other parties on offer – the scandalous deselection of Anne McIntosh, the untrustworthy LibDems, the lack of policy statements from Labour/New?, until I read the “Green” letter (Gazette, December 31) in support of windmills on the Wolds.

Years ago a group here in West Knapton formed RAGE, against Ryedale being exploited as a “guinea pig” for the extraction of sour gas. We campaigned hard, many joined us, and the campaign was well covered by the media.

Michael was on television from the kitchen, from “our radio car” early in the morning and trailed down the fields to be photographed. Information was collected from specialist journals, an expert geographer from Durham University engaged and reports written on every aspect – the local economy, tourism, agriculture, ecology, archaeology, the very special nature of the Vale of Pickering.

A professional photographer took before and after shots of the site for the proposed generating station at East Knapton. Money was raised, lawyer and QC engaged for the public inquiry in Settrington.

Did it have the slightest effect on the outcome? A better safety specification perhaps, but of course it did not – it was a done deal.

The Government in effect gave itself permission. The opposing QC must have thought it money for jam – all he had to prove was that the project was necessary in the “national interest”.

We learnt a lot about a lot of things, not least about the nature of friendship and strength of community.

The present government is backing the fracking industry. Here we go again.

Footnote: On a quiet afternoon in the Commons, Michael Heseltine announced that 30,000 miners would lose their jobs and, tucked right at the end of that devastation, was the announcement that the East Knapton generating station would go ahead.

Lorna Broadbent, West Knapton