TOO NOISY?

It's a rare privilege to be able to stand inside a wind turbine mast, and yet one of our correspondents was able to do just that this weekend.

The opportunity came after the annual general meeting for shareholders in the Westmill Windfarm near Shrivenham in Oxfordshire. Bizarrely, our trusted friend tells us that the meeting was almost indistinguishable from a nimby rally, except that the Westmill shareholders were well-mannered and knowledgeable. They were, however, mostly middle-aged and ... well, yes, they looked just like the identikit nimby mob that protests against windfarms up and down the country.

The Westmill Windfarm has been up and running since 2008, with some two-and-a-half thousand shareholders all willing it on. The project so far has been a success, and the Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust (www.weset.org) has since been set up to benefit people in the area and to co-ordinate educational activities for schools (hundreds of children have already had the chance to enjoy and to learn from the five turbines at Westmill). A solar park is now being planned for the same site.

After the speeches, the financial reports, etc., there was a visit to the windfarm. The approach to the turbines is along a 500 metre track. Our correspondent reports that he began to be aware of the sound made by the five turbines when he was about 100 metres away. They were all turning briskly, but - as usual - hardly making any noise at all. Even directly underneath the blades, all that could be heard was a soft, rhythmic heartbeat. Anyone who says that's noisy is a liar.

But the biggest surprise came when he and eight others climbed a steel staircase and entered through a metal door to stand inside the mast, just thirty metres or so below the nacelle (hub) and gear mechanism. The operational manager of the site explained how the turbines worked. Even inside the turbine, the sound of the machine did not impact on conversation at all. There was no need to raise one's voice in order to speak to the others in there.

This is the umpteenth report we've had from people who have visited windfarms, or who have holidayed by windfarms, or who have houses beside windfarms, and who all insist that there's hardly any noise at all - and that's when you're right there, next to the turbines, underneath the blades or even inside one of the masts! Which just goes to prove how fraudulent the demented anti-windfarm campaigners are with their false and misleading claims about windfarms being "noisy".

It's one thing to pretend to have visited a notorious anti-windfarm whinger, and to pretend that you heard the noise which that people has been bleating about for ages, just as one of the nasty nimbies of VVASP did at the planning meeting in January. It's another thing altogether to have visited windfarms, walked around the turbines, and even been inside one, and to come back admitting truthfully that there wasn't any noise, even on a windy day.

Put it another way: you can be honest, and say that no, windfarms are not noisy. Or you can make up stories about how noisy they are in order to fool other people (including local councillors and certain clueless politicians). But that's extremely dishonest and shows that you're happy to put your own selfishness ahead of the public good.

So, you heard it here, folks: once again, an honest visitor to a windfarm is happy to tell you that the so-called "noise" cannot be heard more than about 100 metres away, while even inside the mast it's hardly what you'd call noisy.

What a pity, eh, that decision-makers can't be bothered to check these things out for themselves, but choose to rely on the dishonest, self-interested, downright fraudulent testimony of nimby groups like VVASP. And a pity, too, that irresponsible right-wing papers continue to provide such nimby groups with all the lies they need to keep confusing themselves and the public.

Visit a windfarm. Then you'll discover just how un-noisy they are.