NEWS FROM LIE-CESTERSHIRE

Parish Councils are supposed to be a cornerstone of English democracy. But when a bunch of nimbies go berserk, parish councils are too easily hijacked and subverted.

We saw it during the Great Lenchwick Scandal. A deranged nimby mob obstructed parish councils, preventing them from going about their lawful democratic business (the self-important leader of the nimby group refused to rein in their excesses - but then, he was largely responsible for the lies that had got them going in the first place). The parish councillors resigned en masse. Then, with the collusion of a District Councillor, a new parish council was created and packed with signed-up members of the nimby mob.

Other parish councils were attacked. Some stood their ground. Others, like Harvington, in which less than a third of the inhabitants were bothered about the proposed windfarm, decided to suck up to the devious traitors of Church Lench anyway.

Local democracy had been overturned (as a lifelong resident of Church Lench reported). The nimbies threw out the rule book for parish councils, diverting public money into their insane and fraudulent anti-windfarm campaign. Even the supposedly neutral councils - like Norton & Lenchwick - were quietly hijacked by nimby liars. Regardless of what the local people actually felt, their representatives objected. All the councils submitted the same objection, a poor-quality hatchet job done by a local solicitor and paid for by parish money.

But we were not alone. In the East Midlands, Lubenam Parish Council also decided that it was not a legally constituted democratic body but the political wing of the Stop Gartree Wind Farm group. The parish council duly published the usual insane misinformation and collected signatures on pro forma letters at various public events. Thirteen months later, these letters were retrospectively dated and the planning application case number added on.

That was illegal. Worse, many of those letters came from residents who had no intention whatsoever of objecting to the Gartree Wind Farm. The parish council was engaging in fraud!

Harborough District Council accepted all those letters. The chief executive of Harborough DC has since stated that "In principle Harborough District Council would not accept forged letters of representation." Whatever "in principle" means. The fact remains, thanks to the unlawful and undemocratic behaviour of the maniacs on Lubenham Parish Council, the District Council was sucked into the fraud.

Something very similar happened in Lenchwick, where Wychavon District Council signally failed to put its foot down. The nimby liars and frauds were allowed to run amok, taking our parish council money and diverting it into their cretinous, treacherous, vicious campaign. Wychavon, though alerted to the outrage, did nothing.

A very detailed account of the misbehaviour of Lubenham Parish Council and Harborough District Council in this matter of the utmost national importance can be read here:

http://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1M8O6n2n4Q5NTkxOWFiMjAtYzNjMS00NzI3LWI3ZDYtZWY0Y2M1ZjA1YzI4/edit?pli=1

Sadly, it appears that the nimby maniacs are back in force in Leicestershire. We mentioned in our last post a planning application which has been submitted for a single 20-metre turbine in Horninghold. Not a windfarm, a moderately-sized individual turbine. But, buoyed by the success of Lubenham's law-breaking antics, the nimby nutters of Harborough have swung into action, determined to stop one man's efforts to combat climate change and create cheap, clean energy.

Bilston Parish Council turn out to be the villains on this occasion. We can comfortably assume that - in defiance of the proper behaviour of parish councils - the loons of Bilston had made up their minds long before this application was submitted (indeed, the proposed site of the turbine was moved 60 metres to accommodate local concerns).

The parish clerk of Bilston is quite possibly as dishonest and slippery as some of the clerks we got to know and loathe during the Lenchwick Scandal. A letter has been submitted to Harborough District Council from this "person", who can barely avoid spuming their frothy-mouthed rage all over the letter.

The letter starts with a bit of creative language: "Comments have been received from the majority of householders within the Village [shades of The Prisoner, for those who remember it] and with the exception of one household all other comments received objected to the proposal."

This is tricky writing. It's designed to give the (false) impression that the entire village is opposed - apart from that one accursed household. But evidently there are villagers - the parish clerk was extremely careful not to indicate how many - who either hold no form opinion or are actually in favour of the windfarm but are too scared to speak out (it happens: it happened in Lenchwick).

Neither did the huffing and puffing parish clerk have the grace to admit that the "one household" which expressed support for the wind turbine happens to be the home of one of the UK's pioneers of wind energy, a man who probably knows more about wind power than anyone else in Britain. He is also the professor who so thoroughly debunked the insane bilge published in the nimby Bible - a useless piece of phoney research entitled The Wind Farm Scam. Copies of this cheap publication were bought in bulk and distributed by our local fanatics as part of their drive to "educate" the District Council, in that oh-so Stalinist sense of the word.

Having tried to give a false impression of the strength of local opposition - without admitting that Bilston Parish Council has completely ignored the advice of a genuine wind power expert who lives on their doorstep - the clerk goes on to make some claims which would be bold if they weren't so stupid.

Naturally, the countryside around the Village is the most beautiful anywhere on God's green earth, and that would be ruined forever and a day if a single 20-metre turbine was allowed. People using the footpaths would be "adversely affected" (what does that mean? They'd be mugged? Mildly inconvenienced? Prone to cricked necks because of their inability to look at anything other than a medium-sized turbine?).

The gibberish continues, as Mr Pompous-Arse assures his District Council that the one turbine would play havoc with the ecology of the area and frighten the horses. Did he check with the British Horse Society, who know a thing or two about horses and wind turbines? Probably not. Just the usual rampant prejudice inspired by stupid nimby rumours.

But what really gets this idiot's goat is that people who don't live in the Village have commented on the proposal, expressing support for this sensible, necessary and harmless development.

It doesn't concern the parish councillors that objections have been solicited from absentee nimbies as far afield as London and - yes - Main Street, Church Lench. No, they're just spectacularly unhappy that democracy is being seen to be done.

Of course, when you happen to live in an area which already has a reputation for fixing up letters of objection under false pretences and submitting forged letters of representation, you really should expect that those in this land who still have a heart and a soul will stand up for Britain and support this worthy wind turbine. But - like every nimby everywhere - their countryside is theirs, it's "particularly attractive", and only the people who happen to agree with their blinkered and foolish stance should be allowed to express an opinion. No wind turbine experts, no supporters of green energy, no one who actually wants the turbine to be given the go-ahead should be heard from. End of.

That's how the nimby Nazis think. They, and they alone, are allowed an opinion - even if their opinion is based on lies, misinformation, prejudice, ignorance and overwhelming intolerance.

Don't these morons realise what is happening? We are facing a crisis - a crisis made of several crises all bundled into one to make the perfect storm. Climate change (a hosepipe ban in March - nice work, mortals!), energy shortages, resource shortages, ever-increasing domestic bills thanks to the coalition government's love-in with the lobbyists for gas and nuclear ...

AND THESE MENTALISTS OF BILSTON DON'T WANT ONE MAN TO PUT UP A TURBINE BECAUSE IT MIGHT "ADVERSELY AFFECT" SOMEBODY WALKING ALONG A FOOTPATH???

How insane, how blisteringly out-of-touch, how disgustingly self-important must you be to be that divorced from reality?

So, Harborough District Council now has to decide what democracy means. Typically, the nimby fools of Bilston Parish Council are invoking the "terms" of the Localism Bill. They should be threatened with a nuclear power station on their doorstep and forced to decide between that and a 20-metre wind turbine!

Can Harborough DC redeem itself, after its blatant collusion in fraud over the Gartree Wind Farm? We'll know soon enough.

(If you want to leave a supportive comment for the 20-metre wind turbine, please email us here at wind-in-the-orchard@hotmail.com before Tuesday 20 March and we'll send you the link)