Wind farm campaign enters ‘criticial phase’

Thursday, February 10 2011

A concerted campaign against controversial plans to develop a wind farm in rural Staffordshire has entered a ‘critical phase’ says West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass.

The UKIP MEP says South Staffordshire Council’s decision to refuse the installation of a temporary towering 70 metre wind monitoring mast near Church Eaton is a major milestone in the long-running STAG (Stop Turbines Action Group) campaign.

Mike has long been a vocal opponent of onshore wind farms. In November 2009 he met with STAG representatives at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and following the meeting he pledged to put his full support behind their ongoing campaign.

Since then Mike has repeatedly called on South Staffordshire Council to ‘do the right thing’, listen to residents' concerns and protect the environment.

Now, the MEP hopes South Staffordshire Council’s sound decision to reject plans to erect a temporary wind monitoring mast on land at New House Farm will add impetus to the campaign against Wind Prospect’s proposals to install six towering 126-metre wind turbines in Brineton.

Mike said: “It has been a long, hard fight and now it appears the campaign may have entered a critical phase with the Council’s refusal of the monitoring mast application.

“A battle has been won but not the war. Members of South Staffordshire Council are set to meet next month to discuss the full planning application.

“Looking at this from the economic perspective, if you take away the subsidy, wind farms are simply not viable. Inefficient wind farms are also a poor way to harness energy and we should divert investment into clean coal.

“The residents do not want these towering money wasting monstrosities in their midst. They do not want to see the rural beauty of their area destroyed so that a pile of inefficient foreign made wind junk can be displayed for miles around,” he added.

Tony Lendon, chairman of King Street STAG, said: “Now the battle moves on to the full planning application for the six turbine wind power station.

“Councillors are due to decide on this at their meeting on March 15. We urge everyone to come and show their support - it really does make a difference.”