Signs of Spring

As well as the crocuses, daffodils and snowdrops flowering, the honeysuckle is valiantly producing buds to welcome the spring. That's the good part of the day!

But: - An exhausting and frustrating morning as I joined a the rest of the village at the local council planning approval meeting. The son of a local farmer is wanting to erect a 47 metre high wind turbine up on the hill at the back of our houses. The fact that he doesn't actually live here any more, and that it is to be sited at the furthest point from the house on his parent's land, is by the by. It will be less than 800 metres from some of the houses here and will be visible from miles around. He will get an income of several thousand pounds a year from the government for having it on his (parents') land. We will have it behind our houses, on the hill above us, its blades constantly turning, the noise and the sight of it constantly present.

The fact that 80% of the local population objected counted for nothing. Of the twenty houses in the village, 18 had written and complained. Folk have spent months researching, reading and producing documents and publications from all over the world which back up our objections. The councillors were not even prepared to visit the site and see it for themselves. There are many small domestic turbines in the area, we can see lots of them in every direction, and they do a super job of generating electricity for domestic use, but this is a huge monstrosity, and there can be no other motivation for its construction other than greed. When its electricity is not needed and it has to be switched off, the owner will get paid even more than when it is producing and it is being fed into the grid. How can this be right? At the end of the day it is us that are paying the subsidy to him and us that have the consequences and the detrimental effects to put up with. He lives miles and miles away and pockets the cash.

Still, he is the son of a local farming family, which needs to diversify if the farm is to continue being viable, and did I mention that he used to work for the council? So of course planning consent was approved!

Okay, rant over. I shall have another glass of wine and try and chill! Tomorrow is another day . . . .