|
Why Maer Hills?
"I
thought doing that up at Maer Hills was a good idea. It's all just
Not In My Back Yard."
Most
people would say "We agree with the concept of wind turbines -
but we're not sure that Maer Hills is the right place for them."
But when we challenge people as to why they might think that way, their argument starts to fall to
pieces. In truth, noisy anti-wind protests in the area have
intimidated a lot of people and made them feel that opposition is
universal - so they had better either agree or keep quiet. This is
not actually the case - most people either privately support the
scheme or don't have any strong views either way. Let's look at some
facts:
-
IS THERE
ENOUGH WIND on Maer Hills? From what we
know about Maer Hills it is technically a good site. There is a
clear outlook to the west allowing the prevailing wind to
approach the site uninterrupted and a gentle ridge of
hills to sweep up the wind and increase the flow
over the turbines. Estimated average windspeeds are around
7m/s which is ample. Check out the
wind maps on the British Wind Energy Association website.
And wait for some proper data from the monitoring mast before jumping to conclusions.
-
The requirement for
renewable energy is universal, we all use electricity and
therefore we all have a moral duty to make a contribution where
we can. The people of Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire have
historically suffered the smoke from Drax, Ferrybridge and other
huge coal fired power stations while we casually consume their
electricity to watch X-Factor. Anti-windfarm protests over Maer
Hills have already earned a name for this area as selfish and
full of NIMBYs. Attitudes must change - want electricity =
make space for wind turbines.
-
Engineers looking for
suitable wind turbine sites have digital maps of terrain and
windflow over the entire country. They are looking for sites
where wind turbines will perform well. These are typically
places where the prevailing wind meets a ridge which will sweep
the airflow up onto the turbines. Maer Hills is just such a site
with clear views out to the west and a line of hills to catch
the wind. Interest in constructing turbines on Maer Hills is
not going to go away.
-
A common argument used
by anti-wind protestors is that turbines should not be sited
within 2km of habitation. But check out this map of the UK and
see how few sites there are in England outside of this 2km
"exclusion zone" - not many - and still fewer of these will have
suitable terrain for turbines to work well. In Holland and
Germany they build wind turbines right close to habitation with
no problem. So why shouldn't we?
-
Look at the map above
and you can see that most of the areas in black would clearly be
regarded as areas of outstanding natural beauty. Maer Hills may
be pleasant, but it doesn't compare to the sort of landscapes
we're talking about here. What's more has anyone noticed any
transformer stations we can hook up to in the middle of the
Highlands? No neither have we!
-
The UK is the windiest
country in Europe. But we currently only have around 2,500
operational wind turbines - Germany has around 21,000.
Clearly there is set be a huge increase in the number of
turbines and sites will have to be found. The biggest single
issue holding back progress is delays in getting planning
permission and it is well recognised by the government and
the wind-power industry that well organised NIMBY protests all
over the country are causing unacceptable delays to progress and
unnecessary additional costs to developers. Expect to see the
planning process change sometime soon - exactly as it did for
mobile phone masts.
-
If we are
to have wind turbines then it stands to reason that suitable
sites have to be found. Planning Authorities are under an
obligation to have a policy on finding suitable sites. So
far Newcastle Borough Council have totally failed to do this and
have rejected every wind turbine planning proposal ever
presented to them
anywhere in the borough. They clearly cannot continue to do this
- if they do then they will lose their authority over these
matters, the Planning Act of 2008 has already set the scene for
this to happen. The council need to stop running scared of
the NIMBY vote and face up to their responsibilities.
-
The
developers are only doing it to make money! Yes of course
they are - every business exists to make a profit. And
generating renewable energy is a far nicer way of doing it than
a whole list of other ways we can think of. Renewable power
generation is a relatively new industry and it needs massive
investment to grow rapidly. To make that happen the government
has to find ways of making it worthwhile for investors to build
the necessary infrastructure and compete against coal. Anybody
got any better ideas?
-
Renewable
energy is set to become the biggest growth industry that
humanity has ever seen. In the short term it will help us to
climb out of recession by creating jobs and investment. In the
US Barack Obama has already moved to unleash huge development in
the industry both through investment and changes to planning
laws. We must do the same in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
So until we get more
information: turn off unnecessary lights, turn down the heating,
turn your TV off standby, reduce the miles you drive. And if you
drive on diesel then you can get cheap, legal, environmentally
friendly biodiesel from here.
Save Planet Earth |
