I attended a village meeting at Greystoke last night, attended by in excess of ninety people. The overwhelming majority parishioners, but people from quite a wide area came too, knowing the implications of proliferation. The knowledgeable speaker was Dr Mike Hall from FELLS (Friends of Eden, Lakeland and Lunesdale Scenery - www.fells.info).
The topic has far-ranging implications on our greater landscape integrity. Wind farms only go to show the major dilemma facing politicians seeking to maintain more than a base level of energy for our modern society. They contribute such an insignificant proportion of needed electricity. All accept that the carbon footprint of the manufacture and installation cannot be reclaimed in their working life. When they become obsolete the 1000 tonne concrete base to each turbine is so massive that it can only be soiled over.
Lord Sainsbury in a written answer to the House of Lord's select committee stated that to achieve the agreed proportion of renewable energy from wind farms, Britain would need to erect 15,000 turbines. They operate at under 30% efficiency. Lambrigg wind cluster, a comparable site to Berrier, has a year-round load factor efficiency of 24%. You can understand why I, and any right thinking person, would make strenuous efforts to fight of this alien invasion.
A landscape devoid of wind farms allows the eyes liberty to gaze at will. A landscape containing a wind farm, no matter the number of turbines, capture every glance, animated, conspicuous, discordant, dominant, dragged into full frame from peripheral vision, they shackle the view. They have so many minuses, there are no mitigating virtues to justify their imposition on our land. Quite simply they are political lip-service. I can offer Sean's perspective no fence for sanctuary.
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