CPRE Shropshire
Protecting Shropshire
CPRE each application for a wind farm or single turbine on its merits for impact on the landscape and potential for electricity generation. CPRE believes that changes that are intended to benefit the environment should be carried out in a way that goes with the grain of the environment, not against it.
We will often oppose wind farms in Shropshire because of their landscape impact and their ineffectual contribution to mitigating the pressing problems of climate change.
We are concerned that some applications for understate the visual impact, particularly in the "artists impressions" images submitted with the planning application. CPRE Northamptonshire has developed good practice guidelines for preparing representations of visual impact. We are also concerned about the cumulative impact of several wind farms in the same area (this is no more clearly illustrated than on the hill overlooking Aberystwyth). A September 2008 report from consultancy Entec on the cumulative impact of wind farms has reinforced our concerns.
July 2009: Milband's wind farm statement does not go far enough
As part of a CPRE debate, energy and climate change secretary Ed Milband clarified his controversial statement that it should "be socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area" (see CPRE Press Release).
Responding to his remarks, CPRE Shropshire welcomed Ed Miliband's u-turn on building wind farms in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Speaking for CPRE Shropshire Mary Robinson said "Whilst Mr Miliband's latest statement is welcome it does not go far enough to alleviate the fears of rural communities and the rest of the British public. There is widespread unease about wind farms, which only supply power intermittently and place an enormous financial burden on the British public. This unease was supported in a recent report from the Select Committee on Economic Affairs of the House of Lords, which said "Determination to meet the target (15% renewables) would... take Britain into a degree of dependence on intermittent renewables unprecedented elsewhere in Europe..."
Mary Robinson went on to say "Climate change will affect the countryside of Britain as it will affect other nations. If we are to reduce C02 emissions we must spend what resources we do have wisely and effectively. Mr Miliband's policy of promoting wind farms is neither wise nor is it effective."
Mary Robinson is renewable energy representative to the Executive Committee of CPRE Shropshire.
June 2009
CPRE South Shropshire group will be at the Church Stretton Summerfest on 20 June 2009. We will be seeking views on energy – how can we meet the growing energy gap without destroying the countryside. CPRE South Shropshire strongly opposes wind farms in the AONB and has taken a strong stance against "The March of the Turbines".
Further Information
- CPRE Shropshire Policy Position Statement: Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
- CPRE objects to the proposed Reeves Hill wind farm
- Proposal for wind farm at Norton-in-Hales, North Shropshire
- Wind turbines in the Shropshire Hills AONB
- CPRE national policy on onshore wind turbines
- European Platform Against Windfarms
Unitary Planning Consultation | Regional Planning | Housing | Towns | Litter | Clutter | Tranquillity | Wind Farms | AONB
CPRE Shropshire, 11 Chestnut Grove, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1TJ
07771 801681. cpre@cpreshropshire.org.uk
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