PLACARD FEVER - LATEST

It can be so difficult explaining to a nimby the difference between public and private.

They're okay with the 'private' - i.e., belongs to them. But they struggle with the 'public' because they think that belongs to them as well.

Take this image, sent in recently. Somebody must have seen the Men-At-Work sign and assumed that it was theirs to deface.

The struggle to understand what is theirs and what isn't lies behind much of the windfarm debate.

For instance, several people seem to imagine that when they bought their houses in the Lenches - not so very long ago, in most cases - they also purchased a field several hundred metres away.

They don't really want that field (too much work), but they reserve the right to decide what happens in it.

In other words, it's not theirs. But they like to think that it is.

Similarly, there are some who believe that when they bought their house, they also bought the view. And that it would remain forever unchanged.

Who told them that??

No one owns a view.

Lenchwick Windfarm, when it is up and running, will cleanly and quietly generate enough electricity to power several thousand homes. Till then, though, we'll keep hearing from several dozen homes who think they own the area. Which they don't. And who think that the view (which they don't own) is more important, in the grand scheme of things, than those households which will be powered by the windfarm.

And more public property will be defaced by people who think that they own it.

So - a warning. Don't stand still for long in the Lenches. Someone is bound to think that you belong to them and stick a placard on you.

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

Exciting times!

This week, VVASP finally remembered that they were supposed to be 'Pro-Renewables'. Their spokesperson gave a ringing endorsement of windpower ... as long as it is out at sea, where no one in the Lenches can see it.

The endorsement came as the result of a heartfelt and effective letter, written by two local teenagers and printed in the Evesham Journal. This is not the first time that the youth of the area have engaged in the windfarm debate on the side of the angels - and, let's face it, it's their voice that matters most.

For a start, they haven't fallen into the trap of thinking they own the views from their windows (a quick look at title deeds should disabuse the selfish nimbies of the Lenches of that misguided notion). More importantly, it is their generation which will have to cope with the damage caused by the nimby generation.

Unusually, though, the newspaper editor offered VVASP an immediate right to reply. Perhaps he was seeking to avoid a torrent of barely literate, spume-spattered nonsense emanating from brainwashed nimbies. Perhaps he knew that if he gave the VVASP a right to reply, they'd say something typically stupid and wrong.

VVASP took the opportunity to witter about the 'information' on their website (mostly non-existent, the rest is just hogwash) and to say, "If they can put wind farms offshore I'm 100 per cent behind it."

Now they only have to get tractors, combine harvesters, airplanes, helicopters, motorbikes, dumper trucks, lorries, 4x4s and music festivals sited offshore and they can look forward to a quiet life.

A clue to the kind of propaganda VVASP has been showing to the ego-warriors of Lench also came to light this week. Judging by some of the fantastical gibberish being spouted by VVASP supporters, the nimby group has been screening 'The War of the Worlds'. Little old ladies do seem to believe that offshore windfarms are marching onshore to clutter up the English countryside (they never seem to worry when windfarms are constructed in Wales or Scotland) and to fire their evil death-rays into middle class homes.

Actually, Peter Luff MP seems to be partly responsible for this. His line would appear to be that windfarms were developed for offshore use and are only now being built onshore. This is a slightly bizarre reading of recent history. And, thinking about it, given that the nimbies have been brainwashed into droning that onshore windfarms are 'too expensive' all the time, offshore windfarms would hardly seem to be the solution.

But VVASP and consistency are like Hugh Hefner and monogamy. Peter Luff has previously described VVASP's claims as 'overly dramatic' and appears privately to feel that Lenchwick Windfarm will go ahead. So his public statements are there only to stroke the egos of the nimbies and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

This past week, ScottishPower Renewables made it possible for locals to find out more about the proposed windfarm. They were greeted with some fine displays of traditional rural pursuits - such as Abusing the Visitors, Playing Loud Noises Till the Police Arrive, Making Up Stories, and of course there was an Olympic standard Village Idiot competition. No winner has yet been declared (the competition was just too intense), but there were some firm favourites.

One guy kept banging on that windfarms should be built 'on the edges of towns'. He clearly hasn't heard of such places as Oxford, Glasgow, Rochdale ...

(The latter, by the way, is a classic example of nimby nonsense being ignored, even though the three main political parties jumped on the nimby bandwagon in a daft attempt at winning votes. The Scout Moor windfarm of 25 turbines is now happily, and quietly, supplying enough electricity to power half of Rochdale.)

Harvington seems to have been the quietest of the public information sessions - partly because there must be plenty of people in Harvington who now wonder whether the windfarm has got anything at all to do with them, and partly because the VVASP Nazis were saving their energies for the following evening.

Church Lench saw the height of nimby irrationality and hostility, for which the VVASP ringleaders are entirely culpable. By then, though, the BBC had lost interest in their little protest.

Overall, the public information sessions would appear to have been a remarkable success ... for supporters of the windfarm. Not only did the VVASP tactics convert several more locals into active supporters of this harmless and vital development, but early indications are that the sessions revealed a strong body of opinion in favour of Lenchwick Windfarm. Despite the nimbies' best efforts in lying and bullying everyone around them into empty-headed agreement that windfarms are 'noisy' (not true), 'expensive' (compared with what? Nuclear?), 'inefficient' (rubbish) and hazardous to house prices (balls), a surprisingly large number of people have maintained their independence, weighed up the facts, and decided that the windfarm is a Good Thing.

So - a strong base of support for Lenchwick Windfarm and lasting shame for VVASP.

Wind of Change is now eager to hear from anyone with a good, practical solution to the problem of disposing of all those ghastly nimby placards which are littering up Sheriffs Lench, Church Lench and Atch Lench. They're already an aesthetic nightmare, and we can't afford for them to become an environmental nightmare too. VVASP won't have concerned themselves with this because THE EARTH AND ALL THINGS IN IT IS THEIRS TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH, GOT IT?

But those of us with an eye on the future are going to have to advise them on the safe disposal of all their silly placards. Dumping them and burning them are both out of the question.

Any suggestions?

VVASP LIE No. 3

One thing the nimbes can't stand is someone who knows what they're on about.

Recently, a villager walked into the local watering hole and announced that he'd just had a holiday right by a windfarm and he couldn't see what all the fuss was about. That's the very opposite of what VVASP what people to hear. Of course, if they were genuinely 'Providing Information' to allow people to make an 'Informed Decision', such testimony would be rather useful. But VVASP are not there to provide real information. They're there to fill your head with cavity wall insulation.

Vale Villagers Against Sound Practice (VVASP) don't just spread silly rumours and inaccurate information. They go to great lengths to stop the spread of legitimate information.

At one of the recent ScottishPower Renewables' public information sessions, somebody or other was rabbiting VVASP nonsense at a consultant from Dulas, a Wales-based co-operative that advises on environmental projects. This resident kept saying, 'They're noisy, they're expensive!' Which, let's face it, is like marching up to a greengrocer and snarling: 'Oranges are blue and they taste of manure!' Somebody who knew nothing about the subject was telling somebody who knew a lot about the subject a load of old cobblers.

When a member of the public questioned this person's confident assertions, asking how they knew windfarms were noisy - had they ever been to one? - something strange happened.

The individual concerned said nothing. Just the merest nod to another part of the hall, and he was out of there, instantly replaced by a more aggressive member of the nimby gang.

So what were meant to be occasions when local residents could find out from the experts exactly what is being proposed turned into VVASP rallies where no scientific fact was allowed to get in the way. 'Providing Information to the Community', again - or, rather, 'Preventing Information from falling into the hands of the Community'.

Supporters of the windfarm do have a problem here, because even when you're sure of your ground (you've visited a windfarm or two, you've looked into the material, you've engaged your brain), the slipperiness of the protesters can catch you off-guard. They'll say something that is so banal, so outrageous, that the only proper response is to burst out laughing.

But windfarm supporters are polite, gentle people, and when residents are evidently distressed (thanks to VVASP's irresponsible behaviour), they don't want to laugh. They want to help, to reassure.

Sometimes, though, we can't. Take the latest VVASP lie. You can tell that it's a lie because it's growing all the time, like a dark cloud over the Lenches. Nitwits are competing with each other to see who can make the silliest statement, who can get most worked up about it.

And the first time a sensible person hears it, they're floored.

On Monday, it would seem, everybody's house had lost 30% of its value because of this windfarm. Those of us who were unaware of this - including local estate agents - only had worse to come. Because by Thursday, the predicted plummet in property values had reached 52%.

At this rate, by the middle of October every desirable residence in the Lenches will be worth about 20p (an investment opportunity if ever there was one). Come Christmas, and we'll have to stump up seven times the original value of our house just to get someone to take it off our hands!

You have to admit it: VVASP know how to get people where it hurts. Forget about whether there's any truth in it or not (there isn't, obviously) - the nimbies really know how to mess with their neighbours' heads. And they're not afraid to do it.

Well, let's run through the facts again. Why not?

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (who, as we all know, all work for windfarm companies) have looked into this. In some areas, in the past, estate agents did voice opinions that an imminent windfarm might affect prices, although none of them could find evidence that it had. The RICS concluded that there was no hard evidence at all of windfarms harming the local property market.

Oxford Brookes University looked into this. They found that in one area in Cornwall, a few terraced houses were cheaper than elsewhere. But all those people dwelling in the famous terraced houses of Lenchland needn't worry, because the study then found that those houses were ex-MoD properties and were going cheap anyway. Again, no evidence of windfarms having an adverse effect.

A huge study in America, covering six years, of over 25,000 property transactions and ten large windfarm developments came up with some extraordinary results.

In the vast majority of cases, properties in proximity to a windfarm ROSE IN VALUE faster than comparable properties elsewhere.

What???

You mean - houses in the Lenches might actually INCREASE in value, thanks to the windfarm?

Well, that's what the largest study conducted so far would seem to suggest.

But if VVASP are 'Providing Information' to the community, why does nobody know this? Why does everybody seem to believe that their house is rapidly heading towards being worth next to nothing?

You'd have to ask them that. Presumably, the vision of all their neighbours descending into panic over a completely fictitious house price alarm amuses VVASP far more than the idea of them doing rather well out of the windfarm.

Or maybe the robots of VVASP have a plan to scare the Lenches' residents so much that they'll be able to snap up lots of lovely properties for development. Who knows.

But one thing is clear - if we stick to the facts, that is. All this guff about your house being worth 30% less, or 52% less, or 189% less, is sheer codswallop.

Isn't it nice of VVASP, though, to make you think that your house is worth nothing?

THE GREAT MARCH

That wasn't ...

As the culmination of their determined efforts to disrupt all the public information sessions held this week by ScottishPower Renewables, VVASP organised a grand protest march through Church Lench on Wednesday evening.

They had been preparing for this for some time. Free placards had been distributed (so anyone who paid out a tenner for each placard a few weeks ago - D'oh!)

But come the night - disaster! The BBC didn't turn up. Possibly because they'd realised that this wasn't news, just a cheap stunt.

And if the BBC couldn't be bothered to broadcast it, VVASP couldn't be bothered to do it. Too much discipline required.

So the march was abandoned.

It's possible that some of the more lucid members of the bonkers protest group had realised how silly they would look, stomping up Main Street with their placards like a bunch of yokels brandishing pitchforks and flaming torches.

It's also possible that none of this had been arranged with the police. As the police had already had to deal with VVASP's anti-social behaviour, another clash with Her Majesty's Constabulary might not have looked too good.

Instead, the misguided maniacs descended en masse on Church Lench village hall to hurl abuse at the representatives of ScottishPower Renewables.

Half a dozen people, who were only doing their job, answering questions from the public and providing whatever information they could about Lenchwick Windfarm, found themselves confronted by hostile yobs shrieking at them that they were 'talking shit' and 'talking bollocks'.

Edifying as it was to see large, well-fed residents screaming abuse at young women, we should not imagine that this was a spontaneous outburst of anger. This had been organised. VVASP had been at every public information session, interrupting conversations, telling lies and intimidating those who held opinions different to theirs.

They weren't there to ask questions or gather facts. They were there to prove that what their initials really stand for is -

Viciousness
Vitriol
Aggression
Stupidity
Psychosis

A tiny cabal of residents, comprising the pathologically self-interested and the terminally barking, have created this madness. This is the side of the protest which they hide from the media. A mob of hysterical, confrontational locals flinging insults at young women. A gang of brainwashed brownshirts attacking innocent people.

Insanity has broken out in the Lenches. Insanity, pure and simple. Some villagers, most of whom have never been anywhere near a windfarm and haven't the foggiest idea of what they're protesting against, have put their faith in charlatans and nutters. And this is the outcome. Sheer, unadulterated madness.

The days of VVASP posing as the victims in this matter are over. They have (yet again) shown their true face. They haven't the faintest interest in the truth, the facts, or in behaving like decent citizens.

They have ruined their own villages, turning them into places of fear and loathing where a mindless gang of deluded, brainwashed crazies bully their neighbours into submission. Where no one is allowed an opinion which doesn't chime with theirs. Where debate is disallowed. Where honesty and decency have been jettisoned.

In the old Church Lench, such phenomenal rudeness to visitors would not have been tolerated. The nimbies have proven that they are not true villagers. They have no interest whatsoever in the village. They are destroying the community in the pursuit of their own crazy power games. They are liars.

Peter Luff MP will come to regret his nimby words. VVASP have terrorised the local villages for too long. Many are sickened by their disgusting behaviour, their irresponsible lies, their swaggering arrogance. Before too long, Peter Luff will wonder how he ever came to be suckered by such a nasty bunch of evil cretins.

Whatever the outcome, VVASP have lost the moral battle. Any last shred of respectability they laid claim to was annihilated on Wednesday night, when they showed themselves as they really are.

Liars. Cowards. Bullies. Fools.

MORE ON NOISE

What is this strange recording that VVASP tried to broadcast from the back of a truck before the police told them to turn it off?

According to VVASP, it's the sound of a windfarm.

Well, now. The Wind of Change team has quite a file of statements, growing all the time, from regular contributors and local residents who have visited or even holidayed by windfarms in the UK and in Europe. All of them report on how quiet the windfarms are, even downwind on a windy day. Two statements have recently come in regarding visits to the delightfully-named Bicker Fen, a windfarm of 13 new turbines. The noise - if that's what you want to call it - is negligible, whether directly under the blades or at varying distance from the turbines.

So what are we to make of the VVASP noise machine?

It would be unreasonable to expect VVASP to come clean about the recording. While the nimbies are busily accusing ScottishPower Renewables of telling lies (if anyone has come across a blatant untruth or misleading statement made by SPR in the Lenchwick Windfarm saga so far, please email it in and the Wind of Change team will research it), their own track record in this respect is pretty shabby.

In fact, expert opinion is now determining that VVASP's literature would incur an adverse ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority.

There are indications, however, that the recording VVASP is so proud of concerned a windfarm at Ireleth in Cumbria.

The seven-turbine windfarm at Ireleth starting operating in July 1999. There was some discrepancy between the original proposal for the windfarm and the eventual layout. While this does raise a few questions, it should be remembered that the late '90s was still back in the Dark Ages, where wind energy was concerned. Things have moved on a long way since then.

Three and a half years after the Ireleth windfarm began generating energy, Barrow Borough Council dropped a planning enforcement order against the windfarm developer. Six local residents then took out a private prosecution against the owners and operators of the windfarm on the grounds of 'noise nuisance'. Early in January 2004, a district judge ruled that the companies were not guilty of creating a 'noise nuisance'. Judge Peter Wallace had simply not been convinced by the six local residents that there was a case to answer.

Naturally, the nimbies cried foul, pretending that the judge was in the pocket of the windfarm owners and operators.

As far as the nimbies are concerned, ANYONE who disagrees with them is working for a windfarm company. But that is the point at which conspiracy theory slips into paranoia and clinical insanity. If you imagine that anyone who doesn't agree with your rather alarmist notions is in hock to the wind lobby, then you need professional help.

The Ireleth experience can be put into perspective. A study published in 2007 by Salford University concluded that complaints about noise from windfarms were remarkably rare. Over the course of a fifteen-year period, just 239 formal complaints had been made about windfarm noise. That's less than sixteen a year. There are over 300,000 complaints made every year about other forms of noise.

So - if it is a recording of Ireleth that is being played by VVASP, then it is a matter of legal record that the windfarm in question does not create a 'noise nuisance'. And it is a matter of statistical record that complaints about such noise are astonishingly few and far between.

Now, let's face it. The nimby movement is desperate to find the smoking gun, that one conclusive piece of evidence that windfarms are noisy. It would be like gold dust to them.

And supporters of the Lenchwick Windfarm would want to know what measures could be taken to protect residents from such a problem.

But the very obscurity of the VVASP recording is effectively proof that it isn't the 'smoking gun' the protesters have been looking for. If it did what it claimed to do, then anyone with half an eye on the windfarm issue, locally and nationally, would have heard about it. The supporters would be demanding answers to such questions as, 'Why is this windfarm noisy when others aren't? What's being done to overcome that problem?'

It may, or may not, be a realistic recording of a rather old and relatively primitive windfarm. By playing it at top volume, the nimbies are distorting whatever value the recording might have to them. And given VVASP's endless capacity for diseminating false or misleading information, it must be assumed that the recording isn't quite as straightforward as they want you to think it is.

Those who are interested may care to check back through this blog for an analysis of a video screened on the VVASP website. That video claimed to prove that a Cumbrian windfarm was noisy. In fact, it managed to prove nothing of the sort. If anything, a sober and serious study of the video concluded, yet again, that the 'noise nuisance' of windfarms is grossly exaggerated by nimby groups.

Out of the two - windfarms and anti-windfarm groups - there can be little doubt as to which is the noisiest.

POMPEII PLEBSITE FOUND

Archaeologists have discovered an astonishing new document in the ruins of Pompeii.

Known technically as a 'plebsite', the document sheds a fascinating light on the way the citizens of Pompeii failed to prepare for the disaster which destroyed their city in 79 AD.

As Dr Karl Thacker of Baden-Baden explained: 'A plebsite should not be confused with a plebiscite. A plebiscite represented the will of the people over an important matter. A plebsite was just a bunch of idiots jabbering on.'

The remains of the plebsite were discovered on the extreme edge of the city, where the locals would have been among the first to suffer the effects of the catastrophic volcanic eruption. According to Dr Thacker, it charts the attempts of a minority group to oppose plans to safeguard the city from destruction.

'A very bizarre group of people calling themselves Pompeii People Against Solutions to Vesuvius (PPASV) seems to have been, in its small way, partly responsible for the disaster. They strenuously opposed all attempts at averting it. As the plebsite shows, their arguments were quite crazy, really.'

The first stele to have been discovered appears to have been an introduction to the aims of PPASV. Translated by Dr Thacker, it declared that 'Pompeii People Against Solutions for Vesuvius are a pro-solutions for Vesuvius group, but we believe that only "appropriate" solutions should be allowed, and that means nothing near us.'

Professor Bontoni of Naples explains: 'A solution to the looming problem had been put forward. It would have been both elegant and effective. Laboratory tests have proven that the defensive measures, initiated under the Roman SPQR banner, would have mitigated the effects of the eruption, saving many homes and lives, as well as providing heat and light for the citizens.

'But, for reasons which remain obscure, this small group refused to allow the protective measures to be taken.'

As subsequent steles were unearthed, it became clear that the frantic PPASV group made a series of extraordinary claims about the defensive measures. Some cried 'witchcraft'. Others insisted that the scheme would spoil their view of the volcano, would affect the values of their properties, and even that Vesuvius was never going to blow anyway.

'One stele shows a whole bunch of bent spoons,' says Dr Thacker, 'suggesting that Pompeii People Against Solutions for Vesuvius hadn't really grasped what was being proposed.'

The PPASV plebsite is helping the experts to understand a peculiar wall frieze which has also been partly excavated. One image shows a man holding a large cockerel up to another man's ear. Dr Thacker suspects that this was an attempt at persuading people that the defences would sound a bit like a cockerel sqwaking in your ear, although Professor Bontoni's laboratory tests indicate that the defences would have been more or less silent.

Another image shows a man bending over, with words emerging from his bottom. 'This, we think, is a depiction of a PPASV spokesman,' says Dr Thacker.

'PPASV also sent people to Herculaneum to persuade the citizens that the defensive measures would "blight their lives" and "kill the countryside". As we all know, Herculaneum was also destroyed. But perhaps, if people hadn't got caught up in the PPASV madness, they might have been able to save themselves and their cities.'

Professor Bontoni agrees. 'These were not the brightest of people. I mean, when you think about it, what kind of person would campaign so dishonestly against such a vital and effective scheme, one which would have provided many benefits, not least of all, of course, the protection of the area against a massive disaster?

'Luckily for us all, people are a lot more sensible and intelligent nowadays.'

VVASP LIE No. 2

What can you do, eh? The truth is out there. It's already known to millions, and for those who don't know it yet it's not difficult to find out.

And here's the truth:

MODERN WINDFARMS ARE PRETTY WELL SILENT.

But, like other nimby groups, VVASP are committed to the Big Lie Principle: tell a lie (preferably a whopper) enough times, and some people will believe you.

Now, thanks to the BBC, we know that there are residents of Atch, Church and Sheriffs Lenches who still believe that windfarms are noisy. They've fallen for that great Big Lie, that windfarms sound like helicopters approaching, or they make a 'whoomp-whoomp' sound.

Ever been anywhere near a windfarm? If you have, you'll know what a load of claptrap the deluded, misled nimbies of Lench are talking.

If you haven't, you might be inclined to believe VVASP. Interestingly, a small number of VVASP extremists did go to visit a windfarm.

They made no recording of their visit. They just came back saying that what they'd discovered was 'alarming'.

Arguably, what was so alarming to them was the discovery that windfarms make no noise. Hence their failure to make a recording.

Instead, their pseudo-scientific leader has found a 'recording', somewhere or other, of what he says is a windfarm, and they play this as loud as they think they'll get away with at any and every available opportunity.

It's the Big Lie all over again. But if you want to know the truth - go visit a windfarm, either in the UK or in continental Europe. You'll be amazed ... at how quiet they are.

Of course, sooner or later everyone is going to be pretty familiar with the minimal noise output of windfarms. It's only while so many people are so ignorant in this matter that recklessly irresponsible nimby groups like VVASP can make their inaccurate and misleading claims.

And if they fail to convince you about the non-existent 'whoomp-whoomp' noise of windfarms, they'll try a more desperate, and more irresponsible, tack. They'll start talking about a made-up kind of noise that acoustic engineers can't measure and most people can't hear.

The only people who can 'hear' this strange, unrecordable noise are those who were convinced by nimbies that they'd hear one.

The liars - sorry, protesters - claim that this difficult-to-pin-down noise is a form of infrasound.

Well, Dr Geoff Leventhall, expert consultant in Noise Vibration and Acoustics, authored a DEFRA report on infrasound. In contrast to the sort of gobbledegook the nimbies rely on for their so-called facts, Dr Leventhall's report was peer-reviewed. And this is the conclusion he reached:

"I can state quite categorically that there is no significant infrasound from current designs of wind turbines. To say that there is an infrasound problem is one of the hares which objectors to windfarms like to run."

In other words, the nimbies LIE about infrasound from wind turbines (Dr Leventhall put it more politely than that, but that is what he was saying).

So - windfarms are not noisy (that's easy to prove: just visit one) and they don't create magical, mystical, let's-pretend kinds of noise.

Why, then, are so many in the Lenches convinced that they do? (VVASP lies, of course!)

And why does BBC Midlands Today insist on airing the views of ignorant, misinformed, deluded nimbies rather than giving us the facts?

How are we ever going to move forwards while noisy nimbies get to tell lies all the time and responsible media outlets refuse to tell the truth???

The simple fact is, WINDFARMS ARE NOT NOISY.

Don't believe me? Go visit one. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

FIVE DAYS TO GO!

In the past few days, over a thousand events have been scheduled worldwide to coincide with the Global Wake-Up Call about Climate Change on 21 September.

Not all these events will happen on that day - in Worcester, two special screenings of the movie 'Age of Stupid' have been arranged at Worcester College of Techonology and Worcester Sixth Form College in October. But these are attached to the Global Wake-Up Call, an international attempt to demonstrate that the oil, coal and nuclear lobbies are only going to lead our governments down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire, and what we all need now is decisive action against global catastrophe.

It would be interesting to arrange a screening of 'Age of Stupid' in the Lenches area, because - as we all know - climate change is going to give the Lenches a miss. Global warming will read their silly signs ('2km OK') and obviously obey the injunction not to overheat the climate within two kilometres of some rather nice homes.

In reality, of course, the people of the Lenches are as responsible for climate change and for organising an intelligent response to it as anybody. Which is why the VVASP gobbledegook about 'Appropriate Technology' and 'Appropriate Environment' is so utterly meaningless.

Lenchwick Windfarm will be a small step in the right direction - good for the area, good for tourism, good for house prices, good for the environment, good for Britain and good for the planet. Sadly, a small bunch of unprincipled and deluded nimbies are fighting desperately to stop this vital and elegant development.

They just don't get it, do they?

But the rest of the world does. As we'll see on 21 September.

Maybe then politicians like Peter Luff will wise up and realise that appeasing the nimby brigade is a profoundly silly thing to do.

NIMBY LOGIC

Does this make sense to you?

Is it rational? Consistent? Intelligible?

How does this completely contradictory stance square with the VVASP mission statement about 'Appropriate Technology' in the 'Appropriate Environment'? Are they saying that the 'Appropriate Environment' is two kilometres away?

Or are they simply campaigning for a completely arbitrary exclusion zone - unworkable, unreasonable and impossible?

Please note: the kind contributor who sent this image to Wind of Change suggested two captions:

1) "I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure."

2) "I used to be schizophrenic, but now I'm in two minds about it."

Do feel free to email us here at Wind of Change with your own captions to go with this image. Can you encapsulate, in a short and pithy phrase, the full silliness of the VVASP position?

Difficult, I know, but worth a try.

VVASP LIE No. 1

In the run up to the Global Wake-Up Call on Climate Change and the public information sessions being held by ScottishPower Renewables for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm, this might be a good time to examine some of the abject nonsense talked by nimby groups like VVASP.

Like others of their kind, VVASP exists to mislead the public. They spout so-called 'facts' about windfarms in the knowledge that many people will accept what they hear at face value. This is why there is a great deal of confusion around about the uses and effects of wind power.

But when they're properly analysed, these claims made by VVASP and other nimby groups turn out to be wildly inaccurate.

Let's start with that old chestnut, that windfarms are 'inefficient' - that, in short, they simply 'don't work'.

Firstly, if anyone starts telling you that windfarms are 'inefficient', straightaway you'll know that they don't know what they're on about. The word 'efficient' does not properly apply to wind turbines, for the simple reason that wind turbines don't burn fossil fuel.

It is possible to talk about the 'efficiency' of coal-fired power stations, for example, or nuclear reactors, because they do turn fuel into energy.

Where coal-fired power stations are concerned, efficiency figures are surprisingly poor. When coal power stations first appeared in the late 19th century, they achieved about 1% efficiency. A century of technological advances meant that the efficiency of coal power stations, expressed as a percentage, was into the 30s. In the late 1990s, a Danish coal power station actually set a world record of 47% efficiency.

According to Hans-Dieter Schilling of Energie Fakten, the average efficiency of coal power stations around the globe in 2005 was 31%. Part of the problem with coal is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that in a 'closed-loop cycle' (like a power station) only a fraction of the heat produced during combustion can be converted into mechanical work. As the Science Museum points out, a typical coal fired power station converts 3.45 Mw of chemical energy from coal into just 1.2 Mw of electrical energy. The rest disappears up the chimneys as heat, meaning that coal fired power stations actually produce far more heat than they do electricity.

If coal fired power stations achieve efficiency in the 30-35% range, then they're not all that efficient, really - especially when you consider the extraordinary amount of pollution emitted by coal power stations.

So what about nuclear? You may be surprised to discover that both pressurised water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR) are limited to efficiency ratings of around 33% (source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology). That's not really a lot of payback for the enormous (and rising) costs of constructing nuclear power stations. Nor, for that matter, does it give us much in return for the thousands of years worth of hazardous waste they produce. Or for the safety risks. Or the problem of international terrorism.

So far, then, it would seem that the 'traditional' methods for producing electricity - such as coal and nuclear - only manage efficiency in the 30-35% range.

What about wind power?

Because no fuel is converted into energy, it is meaningless to talk about the 'efficiency' of windfarms. The proper term is 'capacity'.

A modern wind turbine has a maximum capacity of 2000 kilowatts (2Mw). It will operate for roughly 75-90% of the time, generating around 30% of its maximum capacity - or enough to suit the annual electricity of around 1,100 homes.

But that's just the annual average. It so happens that windfarms produce most of their energy in the winter months, when the demand for electricity is greater. As far back as 1995 (not a very windy year), it was noted that the average capacity factor of UK windfarms was 0.313 (which means that they produced 31.3% of their maximum capacity over the year). But during the winter months, this was as high as 0.445 - or 44.5% of capacity. Nearly as high as the world record achieved for coal fired power station efficiency!

There have been huge strides in wind turbine design since then. But even so, back in the Dark Ages of wind turbine design, when we needed the electricity most - in the winter - the turbines were achieving the efficiency equivalent of 44.5%. In other words, they were outperforming coal (roughly 35% efficiency), nuclear (ditto) and gas, which tends towards an efficiency of between 5 and 20%.

In that sense alone, windfarms are hardly 'inefficient'. They compare very favourably with coal and nuclear, and are considerably more 'efficient' than gas.

Added to which, they come with few or none of the serious downsides of their 'traditional' competitors - the import of fuels, massive problems of pollution and greenhouse gases, expensive operations and maintenance and longterm health and safety issues.

No - windfarms produce clean, green energy, and they do so at least as 'efficiently' - if not considerably more so - than those notorious polluters that the so-called 'pro-renewables' groups like VVASP much prefer.

But what about the 'unreliability' of wind power? As ever, when nimbies are confronted with the facts - the actual facts, not the made-up ones they're so fond of - they retreat into another set of myths and lies.

Nuclear power stations, for example, frequently have to shut down for safety or maintenance reasons. Or, as France discovered this summer, they have to gear down because environmental conditions make it dangerous for them to continue operating. THAT causes massive problems for the grid. But the nimbies want you to think that reliance on wind power will mean blackouts whenever the wind isn't blowing.

David MacKay, the UK government's new energy adviser, has warned that we could face blackouts by 2016 because too many nimby groups are holding up the development of green energy projects, like windfarms, with their ridiculous lies and shameful tactics. In other words, the government's chief expert believes that windfarms are at least part of the answer to the problem of electricity blackouts, not the cause of them.

And given that other countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Spain, are already producing large percentages of their domestic electricity needs - up to 40% in Spain - you have to wonder just how 'inefficient' windfarms really are, or rather, what the hell the nimbies of VVASP think they're on about, pretending that they don't work!

Fluctations in electricity demand - such as at breakfast time, or during the ad breaks in a popular TV show, or when the skies darken before a storm - are easier to accommodate when you have more small-scale power generators than just a few big ones. As noted above, a nuclear power station going off-line causes headaches as it is. But the variability of wind (in the UK - Europe's windiest country) would not stop all turbines across the UK working at the same time.

In fact, in Denmark and Germany, where windfarms are already well-established and producing large amounts of electricity, operators have noticed that neither major shifts in wind speed nor sudden increases in demand create major problems.

The future requires a mix of power sources - wind (onshore and offshore), solar, tidal - and a greater efficiency in the way we use electricity. What the loons of VVASP are in denial about is that this is where we're heading ... because there is no choice in the matter. It's a question of survival. And to pretend that windfarms 'don't work' is a mischievous and irresponsible stance to take. It's totally untrue.

Windfarms are easily as 'efficient' as nuclear or coal power stations, they're obviously a lot 'cleaner', they're cheaper to set up, easier to decommission, and they will create a more efficient (because less 'lumpy') distribution of available electricity across the country.

So - next time some cretin tries to tell you that windfarms 'don't work', or they're only '30% efficient', you have a choice of responses:

1) Yes, they don't work as badly as nuclear, coal or gas.

2) Who told you that rubbish? VVASP, I suppose?

3) You're a liar.

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.

21 SEPTEMBER: THE WAKE-UP CALL

Traditionally, 21 September is the autumnal equinox, when day and night are equal, but the long days of summer are passing into the long nights of winter. It is a moment of balance.

This year, it is also the date of the first of ScottishPower Renewables' new drop-in sessions. Norton and Lenchwick village hall will be the venue for a public information day, where residents can find out more about the latest plans for the windfarm.

Seemingly unrelated, 21 September is also the date of the Global Wake-Up Call. You may not have heard of this yet, but on that day, all across the globe, groups will be gathering in public spaces in what are known as 'flash-mobs'.

People gather, mill about, then, at a precise moment, they all perform a uniform action. It might just be making a noise. It might be singing a song. This is captured on mobile phones.

The intention is that, on 21 September, people all over the world will send out a strong message to governments. The Copenhagen talks on Climate Change in December MUST reach serious agreement. There has to be real political commitment to protecting the Earth and its inhabitants from the damage we have done to the environment.

That is why groups like Oxfam and Greenpeace, and the makers of the film 'The Age of Stupid', are co-operating with the Global Wake-Up Call. In the face of imminent catastrophe, it is imperative that we as a species take action to limit the damage. The problem simply cannot be ignored any longer.

So - 21 September is an important date. A red-letter day. While the rest of the world makes its point about Climate Change, we will be looking at the plans for Lenchwick Windfarm.

If VVASP had their way, Climate Change would continue unchecked. A small group of people in Worcestershire (many of them new to the area) consider themselves exempt from the global responsibility to curb global warming. Rather than lobbying government to take the Climate Change problem more seriously than they already are doing, VVASP insist that, just because they don't want a windfarm near them, they shouldn't have to have one. While scientists the world over are warning about a looming catastrophe, which may soon be irreversible, VVASP are lying about the science of windfarms in order to frighten people into opposing one.

Let's think of 21 September as decision time for the world and all its citizens.

Are we all going to do our bit?

Or do we consider ourselves far too important to be bothered by global needs?

Are we going to embrace the best thing that will have happened in the area in years?

Or are we going to lie about it, like VVASP do?

Time for a Wake-Up Call.

SPR OUTFOX THE NIMBIES!!!

Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha!

ScottishPower Renewables have announced the latest development in their plans for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm. Currently, they're looking at just five turbines to be sited along the top of Bishampton Bank.

So, ha ha ha ha ha - they've chosen to plant them right by Nimby Central! The charmless immigrants of Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will have a collective apoplexy, while other parishes, which didn't go quite so crazy about the windfarm, can sit back and enjoy the ride.

VVASP have announced this as 'PHASE 1' of the Lenchwick Windfarm. And, you know, for once I think they might be right. Everything else they've ever said about the windfarm has been a GREAT BIG DIRTY LIE, but I happen to feel that VVASP might be right in assuming (which is all they're doing) that five turbines is just the start. You see, I think ScottishPower Renewables are doing something very, very clever here.

How come?

Well, because in a few years time, when SPR announce plans to extend the windfarm, placing turbines closer to Norton and Harvington, the turbines near Church Lench and Sheriffs Lench will already be up and operational.

And by then absolutely EVERYONE will know that the twisted fools of VVASP were lying through their teeth.

Everyone will then know that modern windfarms are practically silent.

Everyone will know that house prices do not suffer when a windfarm is built nearby.

Everyone will know that wildlife isn't harmed by windfarms.

Everyone will know that all the lunatic nonsense about physical and mental health being threatened by windfarms was just that - a crazy, stupid, mischievous LIE.

You see why I think SPR are a damn sight smarter than the nasty nimbies of the Lenches? I mean, okay, that's not really saying much. But SPR and other companies like them have had to deal with the sort of nonsense spouted by nimby groups like VVASP, and have witnessed their despicable methods of drumming up support through lies and threats, and they've figured out how to out-smart the nutters.

Put the windfarms up right where the majority of the nutters are. Let all the lies told about windfarms by the self-serving nimbies be exposed. And then extend the site to the original plan, knowing that NO ONE WILL EVER TRUST THE TWO-FACED LIARS OF VVASP AGAIN.

The same has happened elsewhere: a windfarm, such as Burtonwold in Northamptonshire, is initially opposed by villagers living a kilometre away, but when everyone realises that a windfarm is a Good Thing to have nearby, and does no harm, they don't object to more turbines.

So all we have to do is make sure that the nimby bunch don't get their way and stop the Lenchwick Windfarm. Then their outrageous lies and vile, dishonest tactics will come back to haunt them.

First step - sign the anti-nimby petition (see below). Please.

SIGN THE PETITION

Do you believe that important planning decisions should not be taken hostage by a vociferous minority of self-centred nimbies?

Do you believe that the future for all of us matters more than the nimbies' short-term obsessions?

Do you want your voice to be heard by 10 Downing Street?

Then here's a petition you really should sign. Get everyone you know (who isn't an ignorant, arrogant, hypocritical nimby) to sign it. Let's make sure that the silent majority is properly represented in this most vital of matters.

Follow the link to find out more and to add your name to the list:

http://www.windenergyplanning.com/new-wind-energy-and-major-infrastructure-petition/

Remember: the nimby brigade does NOT represent the majority. They only misrepresent the facts. By signing the petition, you'll be adding your voice to the growing consensus. And you'll be doing a good thing.

DEMOCRACY IN PERIL

One of VVASP's most misleading claims is that they are 'Providing Information' to help the community make an 'Informed Decision' about the prospective Lenchwick Windfarm.

The reality is that every claim they have made about the windfarm simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It's either grossly inaccurate, deliberately misrepresented or downright hysterical.

Not bad for a group which claims to be 'Pro Renewables'!

In a rational world, they would be laughed at. But where windfarms are concerned, a lot of people have difficulty being rational. They're frightened of change. And so they're susceptible to misinformation. Even when that misinformation is alarmingly silly and quite obviously false.

Behind the VVASP campaign is a small group of individuals who simply don't want a windfarm near them because it doesn't fit in with their idea of what the countryside was when they bought themselves a house in it.

But in order to justify a stance that is, at best, rather short-sighted and retrogressive, the leaders of VVASP have been forced to drum up support by lying to people about windfarms.

What is so extraordinary is how so many people have let themselves down by choosing to believe VVASP's lunatic rubbish.

And this is where democracy suffers. Because it's one thing to have a vote, or to be able to have your say. It's quite another thing to exercise your vote on an enlightened basis.

If you are in full possession of the facts, then there's a chance that you'll vote intelligently. If, however, you're ignorant of the facts or - worse - you've been conned into believing a load of one-sided nonsense, then yours will be an unintelligent vote.

There can be no true democracy without education, without knowledge and awareness. And the truth is that VVASP exists to deny people knowledge and awareness. They're not remotely interested in helping you to understand the facts. How would that boost their cause?

No, they want you to believe all manner of stupid and ludicrous things about windfarms, because then you'll vote against the national interest, against the public good, against your own good, and against the needs of future generations.

You'll vote in a way that serves those self-serving knuckleheads of VVASP.

Only a day or two ago I heard a guy say, 'I've heard that windfarms don't work.'

What the hell was that statement supposed to mean? That windfarms just stand there doing nothing? That they only work a bit of the time?

Comparatively speaking, windfarms work spectacularly well - and they're improving all the time. The latest are pretty well noiseless. They recoup all their costs within months of going onstream, and then spend the best part of twenty-five years quietly and efficiently producing cheap, clean, green energy.

What kind of maniac believes that they 'don't work'?

Only one who's heard from a VVASP loon or one of their cohorts.

There was that poor deluded man who was told, early on, by people who were supposed to be his friends, that the windfarm would kill all the fish in his fishing lakes.

The people who told him that are shameless liars determined to exploit other people's uncertainties for their own ends. There wasn't an ounce of truth in what they told him, but it worked. He's now a leading figure in the anti-windfarm protest.

Another chap insists that windfarms are noisy. He has close friends whose holiday home is right next door to a windfarm, and other friends who have visited several windfarms in the UK. But he doesn't want to hear from people who actually know how quiet windfarms are. He was suckered by the two-faced weirdos of VVASP. So now he believes in something that is demonstrably, patently untrue.

He fell into VVASP's trap. They're not informing people. They're misinforming people. They don't want you to make an informed decision (because then you'd probably support the windfarm). They want you to make a misinformed decision.

Nimby groups are continually using these shabby tactics to force their dangerously out-of-touch views on the locals. Having whipped up enough muddle-headed opposition, they then harrass local councillors into defying the advice of professional planning officers and turning down windfarm applications.

And the UK continues to drift backwards.

This kind of self-serving, anti-social activity must stop. VVASP are betraying us all for their own petty reasons. Anyone who listens to their lies and makes a decision based on them is making a fool of themselves.

The truth is out there. And the truth is:

THERE ARE NO VALID, LEGITIMATE REASONS FOR OPPOSING THE WINDFARM.

Any 'reason' VVASP gives you is based on a lie.

HOW COOL IS NUCLEAR?

This summer, France was forced to import energy from the UK.

Why?

Because as temperatures across France rose to 30 degrees plus, their nuclear power plants started producing less and less electricity. For safety reasons, several were shut down.

France gets around 80% of its electricity from 19 nuclear power stations. 14 of these are inland and rely on river water to act as a coolant.

But for the second time in a decade, temperatures rose to the point that it was no longer safe to use the river water for such a purpose.

The consequence - France could not supply enough of its own electricity. And Paris was effectively powered by the UK.

Now, being the fanatical 'Pro-Renewables' campaign group that they claim to be, Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power (VVASP) protest endlessly against renewables and seem to be of the opinion that nuclear power is the answer to all our problems. Of course, they'd soon change their tune if anyone suggested building a nuclear power station in the Lenches. But consistency was never VVASP's strong point.

With global temperatures rising, countries which rely on nuclear energy are going too find themselves compromised, as France was this summer. Rising sea levels will spell disaster for coastal power plants, and inland power plants will face much the same problems as France did.

What is more, nuclear energy is incredibly expensive. A new study from the US reveals that 'new nuclear energy is on track to cost 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour' ('Time' magazine), which is three times the current US electricity rate and doesn't account for the fact that no nuclear power station has ever been completed on budget.

That's no doubt why the US is increasingly moving towards wind power.

As is the rest of the world.

The UK gets 40% of Europe's wind, and yet we're lagging well behind the rest of Europe in the development of renewable wind energy. Why is that? Because of self-serving nimbies and their ill-informed supporters. Anti-renewable campaign groups like VVASP are holding Britain back by spreading lies and misinformation and putting their own petty-minded concerns ahead of the attractive and cost effective answer to a looming crisis.

John Prescott has slammed 'nimby' councils for opposing windfarms. In fact, it's usually the case that hordes of red-faced nimbies employ barefaced lies and naked aggression in order to force councils to take the wrong decision. We cannot allow that to happen here.

The RSPB, National Trust and CPRE have called for an increase in the number of windfarms in the UK and an end to the ridiculous planning delays caused solely by nimbies lying about them.

The nuclear option is NOT a real option. It's hideously expensive and dangerous. Ask any scientist how the radioactive waste from our existing power stations is going to be protected for the next few hundred thousand years. They don't know.

Those who advance nuclear power as being more reliable and cheaper than wind power are having you on. They're wrong on both counts.

Wind power is safe, clean, cheap and endlessly renewable. The environmental impact is negligible. There is no waste. Windfarms attract tourists. Sensible people like them.

TRUE OR FALSE?

"The construction of a wind farm has a negative effect on house prices in the area."

True or false?

Answer: FALSE.

In May 2003, the Renewable Energy Policy Project in the US published an 81-page report concerning property values in the neighbourhood of windfarms.

Examining every major windfarm development in the US between 1998 and 2002, the report examined some 25,000 property transactions before and after the ten major windfarms were constructed.

What the report revealed was that, in eight out of ten of the cases studied, property values within a five mile radius of a windfarm actually INCREASED faster than in the wider community. In nine out of ten of the cases studied, those property prices ROSE after the windfarms had come online.

In April 2006, the Bard Centre for Environmental Policy in New York published another survey detailing the impact of windfarm visibility on property values in Madison County, NY. The study found an 'absence of measurable effects of windfarm visibility on property transaction values.' In other words, the proximity of a windfarm had no impact on house prices.

Then came the survey that the nimbies want you to know about.

Oxford Brookes University examined 919 property transactions near three windfarms in Cornwall and found that the values of terraced houses close to the windfarms were lower than they would be further away.

But then the researchers spoke to estate agents in the area and found that the nearer terraced houses were in fact ex-Ministry of Defence properties and were considered less desirable - that is, those terraced houses were already cheaper than others, irrespective of the nearby windfarm.

Naturally, the nimbies won't tell you that the Oxford Brookes University study, published in 2007, revealed that certain properties close to Cornish windfarms were cheaper because, well, they were cheaper anyway.

No - those practised misleaders of the public, like VVASP, only want to shock you with a non-representative survey which didn't even conclude what they want you to think it did.

I bet that the nimby brigade don't want you to know that the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found no detrimental impact on house prices as a result of windfarm developments.

So - all the evidence suggests that house prices are not affected by windfarms, and if anything they tend to go UP when a windfarm is nearby.

Those are the facts. Forget the nonsense spun by the nimbies. They're not giving you the full story. In fact, they're lying, as always.

What is more, local evidence indicates that people are eager to move into the Lenches BECAUSE of the proposed windfarm.

The reality is that house prices will not be adversely effected. They might even go up faster than the average. And a better class of person will move into the area.

So what's not to like?

UPDATE ON YOUR MONEY

When the chair of Church Lench Parish Council told residents in an unprecendented 'annual report' that the Windfarm Working Party had secured funds from the neighbouring parish councils to pay for 'legal representation', he wasn't telling the full story.

The Working Party has solicited £750 from each of the neighbouring parish councils, with Church Lench PC acting as the 'lead' council. Six councils contributing £750 each out of their precepts equals a fighting fund of £4,500.

Between £2,500 and £3,000 of that money has been earmarked by Church Lench PC for 'legal representation costs' specifically towards the Environmental Impact Statement, a document based on numerous surveys which will be submitted by ScottishPower Renewables along with the planning application.

Quite what legal costs Church Lench and the neighbouring parish councils expect to incur with regard to this document are unclear. But more of that anon.

The rest of the Working Party's funding is designated for 'Contracting of noise measuring equipment', the approximate cost of which is £2,500.

With just £4,500 of public money to play with, Church Lench PC would not be able to afford to do both. Fortunately, though, £1,000 of the costs of the noise measuring equipment is to be 'donated by other parties'.

What other parties?

Who else would be interested in contributing £1,000 towards the costs of a superfluous background noise level survey?

Not VVASP. No, surely not!

But I think we need to be told who these 'other parties' are. Who is joining forces with the Windfarm Working Party, an initiative of the rabidly anti-windfarm Church Lench parish councillors, to pay for a background noise survey in the hope that it'll produce a slightly different result from that measured by ScottishPower Renewables?

If - I repeat, if - the balance is coming from VVASP, then it's obvious, isn't it? Church Lench PC, under the guise of its Windfarm Working Party, is actively looking for ways of opposing the windfarm planning application before that application has even been submitted. Rather than approaching the planning application in the unbiased, impartial manner required of parish councils, Church Lench has already made up its mind.

Hence, surely, the need for 'legal representation' regarding the Environmental Impact Statement. Again, Church Lench are using YOUR money in order to find fault with the EIS, or maybe to present their own version of the EIS using the data they've cobbled together, again using YOUR money, via their half-baked noise monitoring survey.

For some reason, the chair of Church Lench PC didn't feel that the local residents needed to know this. It's council tax-payers' money that is being misused here on a political campaign, but you don't need to know about that.

By demonstrating a gross inability to approach this issue impartially, Church Lench PC is running a very real risk of having its objections (which YOU paid for) disallowed by Wychavon District Council's planning committee. And by dragging the other parish councils into its biased and underhand way of doing things, Church Lench is also imperilling any objections they may wish to make to the proposals.

All this smacks of a concerted campaign to supplement VVASP's funds with public money by a parish council which is composed entirely of opponents to the windfarm. Which means, essentially, that tax-payers are funding VVASP.

Even if, like many others in the area, you support the Lenchwick Windfarm, you're paying for a bunch of ignorant nimbies to fight it on the flimsiest of grounds.

Unless Church Lench PC or its 'Windfarm Working Party' smokescreen are prepared to declare who these 'other parties' are who will be donating £1,000 to the pointless background noise monitoring survey, then we can only assume that Church Lench PC is in cahoots with VVASP and using tax payers' money to do VVASP's dirty work.

Let's hope that the District Council is keeping tabs on this travesty of local democracy.

NIMBY NONSENSE

Can you believe that VVASP once tried to pretend that they are not a protest group? Even though they have the word 'Against' in their name!

In actual fact, the grossly deluded nookie nimbies of VVASP are still trying to pass themselves off as something other than a single-issue anti-windfarm group.

The front page of their website claims that they are 'Pro Renewable Energy'. And how do they demonstrate their passion for renewables? By trying to stop them, that's how.

As a measure of how muddled and downright dishonest they are, their site goes on to claim that they are campaigning for the 'Appropriate Technology in the Appropriate Environment'. So, you see, they're not protesting against anything. Rather, they're campaigning for something. They're campaigning for somebody else to get a windfarm, and not themselves. They're campaigning in favour of renewables by lying their heads off about windfarms constantly. They're pressing for the 'Appropriate Technology' by making up lies about it.

Now, let's be clear. When faced with imminent climate catastrophe, there's no such thing as the 'Appropriate Environment'. There's just the Environment, otherwise known as Where We Live.

To pretend that the Environment is Somewhere Else is plain stupid. It also highlights the extent to which VVASP is lying to itself and to everyone else. The Environment is Here, There and Everywhere. It's not selective. You can't opt out of it. In the face of climate change, Everywhere is the Appropriate Environment.

But the reckless nimbies like to imagine that the Lenches are somehow an Inappropriate Environment for the Renewable Energy that they're so keep to champion.

Okay, let's think about this. 40 per cent of Europe's wind passes over the UK. The prevailing winds are south-westerly. Wind blows up the Severn Vale and then hits - what? A small group of hills called the Lenches.

So, in other words, the Lenches are the ideal place to site a windfarm. It'll be a rare day when the wind isn't blowing at 100-odd metres above the Lenches. It's the perfect place to harness abundant wind energy, a free and endlessly renewable resource.

But in their eagerness to campaign for renewables, the barefaced liars of VVASP want us all to think that the Lenches is entirely the wrong environment for a windfarm.

Why?

Because they're selfish, self-centred, arrogant, ignorant and foolish, that's why.

If they really are in favour of renewable energy, they should rejoice at the fact that our area has been chosen as the site for a potential windfarm.

But they're not campaigning FOR renewables, no matter how much they may want to mislead themselves and you.

And that stuff about the 'Appropriate Technology in the Appropriate Environment' is just self-deluded, self-serving poppycock. It's a totally meaningless and deliberately misleading piece of nonsense.

The Environment is the Environment. There aren't two different kinds of the Environment, depending on whether you've got a bit of money or not.

VVASP can lie to themselves, but they can't lie to us. They are a protest group dedicated to fighting against something which the environment desperately needs, something which will do no harm to the local area but will only enhance it.

The Appropriate Technology is clean, green, renewable wind energy. The Appropriate Environment is here.

Don't let VVASP tell you that they're actually campaigning for something. They're just nimbies, pure and simple.

WHO REALLY CARES

I was talking today to a genuine local, born and bred in the area, of good farming stock.

In other words, not one of those nimbies who made a bit of money and moved to the countryside, but a real nth-generation local.

This particular person was hugely in favour of the windfarm. For the sake of future generations.

This same person has seen, in recent years, a massive influx of new people - those who've bought their little home in the country, but who have no idea at all about how the countryside works.

These are people who think that the countryside is just scenery. They resent farmers, with their dirt and machinery and noisy animals. They complain when the farming community gets on with the work that they and their forefathers have been doing since the year dot.

These maniacs - for there can be no other word for them - genuinely seem to think that the countryside belongs to them. It doesn't seem to occur to them ever that the countryside is a working environment, or that food has to be cultivated. Simply because they could afford to buy a house in a pretty rural area, they think that all farming should stop, that the land should lie idle, not doing anything, being pretty and peaceful and thoroughly unproductive ...

BECAUSE THAT'S THE IMAGE THEY HAVE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE.

Of course, these same immigrants are campaigning to stop the Lenchwick Windfarm. It doesn't fit in with their rather crazy idea of what happens in the country.

It's been a tragedy, watching this rural area change as more and more people move out to the country from the cities and try to change what the countryside is to suit their ignorant ideas.

And it's telling that so many genuine locals - longterm inhabitants, and the farming community - support the windfarm.

It also makes you wonder who really does care about the countryside. The immigrants, who want to stop farming and any other productive activity which spoils their idea of what the countryside should be? Or the natives, who know that if the land isn't working, then there isn't really a point to it?

When the lunatic nimbies of VVASP make stupid claims like the windfarm will 'kill the countryside', what are they really saying?

They don't actually mean that the windfarm will kill the countryside, because you'd have to be absolutely off your rocker to believe that.

What they mean is, the windfarm will spoil their silly idea of the countryside as a little green haven exclusively for the pleasure of people like them.

The genuine locals know for sure that the windfarm will not kill the countryside. It'll provide some income for local farmers and landowners, without preventing them from pursuing their regular farming activities around the turbines. It'll also encourage tourism - elsewhere in the country, windfarms have proven to be tourist attractions. And, of course, it'll mean that the land is being used for what it's there for - producing stuff (in this case, clean, green, renewable energy).

But the immigrants hate all that. They want their dimwit notion of THEIR countryside, a dead, silent, empty place for their own exclusive use, to prevail. They don't want others enjoying it, and they certainly don't want the traditional custodians of the countryside to make a living from it.

It is the nimby brigade, the cretinous nookies of VVASP and their selfish counterparts across the country, who are doing their utmost to kill the countryside.

The windfarm will only breathe life into a rural scene which is being systematically ruined by the morons who oppose windfarms.

Who knows best, then? The newcomers, or the genuine locals?