VVASP AND PARISH COUNCILS IN COLLUSION

The minutes from the Church Lench Parish Council meeting held on Monday 6 July 2009 make it clear.

The so-called 'Windfarm Working Party', a Church Lench-led initiative comprising representatives from six parish councils, is colluding with the desperately dishonest protest group, Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power (VVASP).

The Church Lench Parish Council minutes reveal that 'Representatives from VVASP attended' one of the Windfarm Working Party's meetings (as if VVASP wasn't already represented on the Working Party). I quote:

' ... it was agreed that they [VVASP] would concentrate on visual aspects [of the windfarm proposal] while the Councils would address noise measurement issues. Funding to address this issue is being discussed at present with the Councils. VVASP has offered a contribution towards the costs.'

WHAT???

So the supposedly impartial 'information gathering and sharing' Windfarm Working Party is actually sharing, or effectively halving, VVASP's workload! The two organisations have agreed to complement each other's work, and VVASP - a politically-motivated anti-renewable energy group which has churned out lie after lie about windfarms - has offered to share the costs of opposing the windfarm with the local parish councils.*

(* See earlier post, 'UPDATE ON YOUR MONEY' for discussion of 'other parties' donating to the anti-windfarm work of Church Lench Parish Council and its 'Windfarm Working Party'.)

This is a horrific development. Being a 'single-issue' parish council (in the words of one Church Lench resident), Church Lench PC has solicited public money from the neighbouring parish councils in order to work alongside VVASP.

What an abuse of local democracy! What a misuse of tax-payers' money!

Do the raging nimbies of Church Lench really believe that this is how things work? At a time when the UK is facing the perfect storm of a looming energy crisis and catastrophic climate change, these people are misappropriating public money while not even trying to pretend that they are impartial where planning for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm is concerned.

They're using YOUR money to fight an entirely misguided, inappropriate, head-in-the-sand battle against a vital, graceful, beneficial development.

Contact your district councillor. Contact Peter Luff MP. Contact the local papers. Let everyone know how our money is being misused by biased parish councillors and the shameless deceivers of VVASP.