MOB RULE

A few months ago, one of our local parish councils ceased to function. After a series of regular parish council meetings had been disrupted by a crowd of noisy, belligerent protesters against the proposed windfarm, the PC was unable to carry out its normal business. The health of the chair had already suffered from the abuse he'd been getting; now the parish councillors felt obliged to resign en masse.

Then the protesters started invading parish council meetings in the neighbouring villages. 'Nutters', was how one of my local parish councillors described them. 'They're like the mafia.' Shouting wasn't enough for them: one of the protesters actually got one of our parish councillors by the throat. So when a later public meeting was held prior to a regular parish council meeting, two police officers had to be in attendance.

The latest news, and it isn't good, is that our local planning committee has turned down an application relating to another proposed windfarm in the area. One of the district councillors involved felt that the committee was intimidated by the vocal hoodlums who arrived to protest. The decision will probably go to appeal, and with the government's commitment to renewable energy, the application might well be approved after all. So, all the protesters have managed to do is to waste time and public money.

This is becoming a recurring problem. Important local matters are being decided, not according to the planning guidelines and the democratic process, but by howling mobs. Mob rule of a kind has already broken out in the local villages, where neighbours are sent to Coventry if they express an alternative viewpoint to that of the 'nutters'. A message was sent to me, via my wife, that I should keep my opinions to myself. It would seem that only one opinion, only one viewpoint is allowed - that of the protesters. Only their lies can be heard. Only they are allowed to make decisions which affect all of us.

A straw poll conducted by my local parish council concluded that 44% of villagers were opposed to the proposed windfarm. The VVASP protest group instantly got onto the local press and claimed that 72% - an 'overwhelming majority' - were against the windfarm proposals.

This is how their version of democracy works. They make up lies about wind turbines. They promulgate these lies at every opportunity. They scare and bully their neighbours into agreeing with them. They stifle different opinions, and then they storm meetings of parish and district councillors and shout and shout until they get their way.

These issues are far too important to be left to the shouters and screamers, the liars and bullies. We are being forced into a situation where crucial decisions are being determined by a wealthy minority who will do anything to browbeat their democratically-elected representatives. They are intimidating public servants and hijacking democratic debate.

And this is what they call democracy. Maybe next they'll be putting on black shirts and marching through the villages, beating up anyone who disagrees with them, all in the name of their quiet and unspoilt countryside.