Save Maer Hills...
(it's part of the planet!)
 

The the plans for a holiday camp on Maer Hills have now been scrapped, leaving just the plans to install four 2 MW wind turbines on the site. The planet needs all the renewable energy it can get and in spite of the Public Relations disaster that the developers have so far brought upon themselves it is now time to support their proposals.

That the plans for the wind turbines will be approved sooner or later is beyond all doubt. It's just a matter of when. Either they get passed by the local council this year - or they get passed on appeal by central Government some time later. 

So please write now expressing your support for the wind turbines - we can expect the organised anti-campaigners to generate a massive number of letters based on their propaganda. But we know that there are many people who privately support the proposals but keep quiet so as not to provoke an argument.

Please write to:

The Director of Regeneration and Development,
Newcastle-u-Lyme Borough Council,
Civic Offices,
Merrial Street,
Newcastle-u-Lyme, Staffs.
ST5 2AG
or you may email your comments to Newcastle Borough Council at

planningapplications@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk

Points you might like to make:-

1. Much of the opposition noise has been whipped up by an orchestrated campaign and objections have been put into people's mouths based on no real intelligent debate. This has given little opportunity for the issues to be properly presented, discussed and understood by local people.

2. The proposals will be approved sooner or later - either now or on appeal. Rather than turn down the application it makes more sense to ensure that Claymoss are forced to take appropriate action to preserve and enhance the environment and wildlife of the area.

3. It is important that the area makes its contribution to the generation of renewable energy that is essential for the management of climate change.

4. The turbines will provide a local point of interest - be a symbol of a clean sustainable future and have an educational value.

5. The plans include a visitor car park - you might like to suggest that Claymoss are required to provide and maintain on-site educational and environmental resources.

6. Many people like wind turbines. Objections about the visual impact of the turbines are subjective and experience shows that - once built - many people come to love the elegant structures as a local landmark.

7. Windmills are one of our oldest form of power and have existed in harmony with the natural environment for centuries.

8. That the current commercial pine forests have zero environmental or wildlife value and that Claymoss's plans to clear-fell exclusion zones around the turbines and allow them to regenerate with the natural vegetation of the area will enhance the environment and wildlife habitats. In fact, some environmental groups are saying that from a wildlife perspective it would be better to fell the entire conifer plantation and let the original oak, birch and other natural vegetation regenerate as it was 60 years ago. 

Followers of the development of public policy on onshore wind developments will be aware that the Government is currently facing a dilemma. The UK's installed base of wind power generation is currently around 1GW, with around four times that held up somewhere in the planning process. The time taken for a wind development to come on line after first proposal is around TEN YEARS and that is clearly far too long if they are to have a hope of meeting legally binding renewable energy targets.

The fact is: planning restrictions on wind power developments are set to be relaxed - probably quite soon - and a whole raft of wind energy projects which are held up by red tape will be approved. And Government policy isn't about to get changed just because a bunch of NIMBYs get up on their hind legs.

So before you start campaigning against a few wind turbines which are going to get built anyway THINK!  Do you want to be seen as:

a) a NIMBY
b) totally ignorant about the realities of climate change
c) someone who leaves your grandchildren to pick up the consequences of your own greed and stupidity
 

... take your pick.

Because if you are: then kiss goodbye to your chances of being taken seriously on anything else you say.

The TRUTH......

A windfarm makes it far less likely that any further development will ever take place, leaving the rest of the environment undisturbed. 

Windmills have co-existed with nature for centuries.

The conifer plantation on Maer Hills is featureless and of little environmental value. The exclusion zones around the turbines will allow the original heathland to regenerate and create a haven for wildlife.

Windmills are not ugly - they are graceful symbols of a cleaner sustainable future which remind us to respect the climate that sustains us.

Wind turbines are not noisy - the noise of the wind in the trees easily drowns out the sound of the sails. We know: we visited a big windfarm in Yorkshire to check it out.

True: the wind does not blow all the time in any given place, (which is precisely why we need installations in many different places all linked into the National Grid) - so a combination of wind, tidal, wave and solar coupled with a new pan-European supergrid can help to ensure we have energy for a sustainable future.

So PLEASE engage brain and...

WRITE IN AND SUPPORT THESE PROPOSALS NOW!

Anybody who cares about climate change can get cheap biodiesel from here

Now: the plans for the Evolution Leisure Village have been scrapped. So on with the show...

 Send us your news and comments!

maerhills@hotmail.co.uk

and spread the word!

Maer Hills Action Group

set up by local people in response to the proposal to build an Evolution Leisure Village