Sunday, 27 November 2005
Batsworthy Cross Wind Farm Proposal Information
As I mentioned in my last post, today we went to an exhibition on the proposed wind farm as Batsworthy Cross. Well, actually, we went to two exhibitions. This weekend npower renewables were having their exhibition, and The Two Moors Campaign (anti-wind group in the area) decided to hold their own exhibition, too, which was pretty much next door.
I went to the npower renewables exhibition first. As we walked in, someone helpfully explained the layout of the room and displays and told us if we had any questions, just ask. On one side of the room there was information on wind power in general. This was very well-presented, but I knew most of this already, having thoroughly researched online. This side did, however, inform me of npower's other projects, including their research into marine renewables, which I was very intrigued about.
They also had useful leaflets about energy saving. In fact, they had lots of information in booklets and flyers about renewable energy, which I was able to take away and peruse at my leisure this evening. And I was given a free pen and pencil (the pencil was made of one recycled plastic cup, which was a nice touch!).
The other side was rather more detailed on the proposed wind farm at Batsworthy Cross. There was a lot of this I already knew, too, but there was also a lot that was new to me. It was especially useful to see the map of the 20km radius of the site, showing where the wind turbines will be viewable from. On the whole, I was impressed with the information, and thought it was all very carefully laid-out. I would like to find out the full results of their Environmental Impact Assessment when it is complete, but I left this building feeling quite content that this proposal is a Very Good Thing.
I then decided to check out The Two Moors Campaign's exhibition, in the spirit of fairness, and to find out what their specific objections to the Batsworthy proposal were. This one was not as organised as the other. The people did not seem as friendly, but that may just have been my perception. I could not find the information on Batsworthy Cross that I was after. There were newspaper headlines and anti-wind power information, but nothing specific to the area, and nothing that I have not seen online already (a lot of which has never been clearly referenced, and directly contradicts other clearly-sourced info).
They DID have a list of questions for npower renewables, which they had made several copies of, so I took one to read. I was disappointed. Many of the questions were easily answered in npower renewables' exhibition - did they bother to check this out at all?
One of the questions I did not find an answer for in the npower renewables' exhibition reads:
"10. I have looked on the RICS [Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors] website at their survey on the affects [sic] of wind turbines on property prices and cannot see where it says that house prices will recover in two years. Where is this stated please?"
Well, they obviously did not read much of the survey. Admittedly, I had trouble finding it on the RICS website, so I used Google and typed in the following: "Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors" study windfarms.
There I found the pdf of the document, but this laptop does not like pdfs very much, so I viewed it as html. Where did I find the answer to the above question?
In the Executive Summary.
Whoever asked that question did not look very far. The Executive Summary is on the third page of the report. It actually says that the negative impact begins to lessen after two years. Yes, initially housing prices are affected, but ask yourself why.
On his own blog, Jon makes a related point by asking "If you are anti-wind, are you saying that you would rather have one of these giant [nuclear] power plants in your back yard?" Surely a nuclear power plant would have a negative effect on housing prices, too, and one way or another we have to come up with a way to source our energy needs and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
So, I came away from the exhibitions even more pro-wind power than before. I will continue my support of Batsworthy Cross, unless someone can come up with a valid reason for the site not being suitable. So far this has not been done; if anything, the site looks ideal. Hurrah!
