A group of pro-wind turbine Islanders have been raising awareness of the benefits of wind power across the Island.
Having attended more than ten events on the Island and chatting to several thousand people, those involved say that they’ve only encountered six members of the public who voiced opposition to wind energy.
Over this time, they’ve gathered over 1,000 letters and signatures in support of the Cheverton Down wind farm proposal.
“Our non-pressure approach”
This interest hasn’t been gathered by berating people, as a spokesperson for the group said “Our letters were voluntarily signed by people who at times queued to sign up. We have never chosen to pin-point one area or knock on our neighbour’s doors. Our non-pressure approach meant people had to make an effort and come to us and that’s what makes each signature so valuable.”
List of greatest concerns
They’ve kept a tally of the concerns from the public. These were, in order of concern
- The terrible changes we are having in our weather, flooding
- Storm damage to buildings and loss of trees and habitat
- The erosion of the coastline on the Island and how much quicker that might get.
- They want electricity supplies to be safeguarded/maintained in the UK, no blackouts
The organisers of the events said that “nearly everyone we encountered were very pragmatic about wind turbines and felt that the Island should play its part, as well as the rest of the UK, in producing cleaner energy and that the long-term protection of the heritage coastline was more important than maintaining a temporary view today.”
They concluded by saying “The council should grasp this challenge now rather than wait to have possible changes in planning laws thrust upon it later.”
Planning meeting this Thursday
The planning meeting to decide the planning applications for three turbines on Cheverton Down takes place this Thursday at 6pm in the main hall of Carisbrooke High School. We understand that there are currently 100 seats left.
We still haven’t heard back from ThWART since we contacted them by phone and email last week.
Top image: darrangange
