Oooops - this somehow slipped through the net.
The Evesham Journal website has a piece dated Thursday 16 July. This reported on the government's plans for increased energy generation from renewables and wind especially.
At the end of the article, the chair of Church Lench parish council 'denied the council had transferred any funds to the VVASP (Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power) working group set up to fight plans for a wind farm in the Lenches, and insisted the council had "tried to be as democratic as possible".'
I don't think that final paragraph made it into the paper edition of the Journal. Which is a pity - because it begs certain questions.
The 'Windfarm Working Party' was set up by Church Lench Parish Council. This was not Church Lench PC in its 'original' form - those parish councillors were sticklers for following the guidelines as regards planning. So VVASP protesters yelled and screamed at them until the majority of the sticklers resigned, giving supporters of VVASP the chance to take over Church Lench Parish Council.
Some of those parish councillors have since toned down their public opposition to the windfarm, replacing anti-windfarm placards with anti-windfarm stickers, for example, but it's pretty darn obvious where these councillors stand on the issue.
Through their 'Windfarm Working Party', Church Lench PC has solicited funds from neighbouring parish councils in order to carry out vague information gathering and sharing activities. The funds they have requested are to be accounted for retrospectively. But what is clear is that studies have been or are being commissioned by the working party to replicate the work carried out by ScottishPower Renewables' contractors.
In other words, this is not so much information gathering as a rather paranoid kind of copycat work. Church Lench Parish Council is presumably hoping to gather data which does not tally with that produced by ScottishPower Renewables. The only reason for doing so is to provide grounds for objections when the windfarm planning application is submitted.
So - when the chair of Church Lench PC claims that no money has been transferred to VVASP, he's probably telling the truth ... but omitting to add that the money is being used by the parish council to carry out anti-windfarm activity on VVASP's behalf!
'Trying to be democratic' is also an interesting phrase. Does it mean that Church Lench PC is doing its best to be a bit democratic - which is like trying to be a bit pregnant? Democracy is democracy. Okay, a slim majority of residents in Church Lench did express opposition to the windfarm, but by pre-empting the planning application, the parish councillors are failing in their duty to remain studiously impartial until they actually have a planning application to consider.
Let's face it - it's perfectly obvious that Church Lench PC made up its mind about the plans way back, at the same time as the original parish council was forced to resign to make way for people who were steadfastly opposed to the windfarm. The newer members of Church Lench PC have hardly been coy about their opposition, and they have requested money from their neighbouring parish councils in order to try to find grounds to oppose the plans when they finally arrive.
That's democracy, Church Lench-style, for you.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
If the UK is lagging behind Europe in developing renewables, the West Midlands is lagging behind the rest of the UK.
But maybe not for much longer. Local news last night broadcast a piece about proposed windfarms in Staffordshire.
And what do you know? We saw the same old nimby nonsense ... noise ... health ... tra la la ... all the tired old rubbish which gets transmitted from nimby group to nimby group like swine flu.
I bet the Staffordshire protesters are also claiming that windfarms massacre wildlife. Our own dear nookies have made the same weird claims here - even though RSPB have checked out the site of the proposed Lenchwick windfarm and given it the all clear.
Indeed, the RSPB has issued a joint statement, along with CPRE and the National Trust. Together, the three organisations have backed the government's plans to increase the number of windfarms across the country, as well as investing in other renewables.
After all, it's all well and good getting pompously protective towards the countryside, but global warming is a far bigger threat to our green and pleasant land than windfarms could ever be!
All of which makes CPRE Worcestershire's decision to support the VVASP nookies even more bizarre. Their move is at odds with the stance adopted by their national body. At a national level, CPRE have expressed concern at the possibility that nimbyism has set in in Worcestershire because, as they put it, that means we'll be getting nowhere.
The Staffordshire nimbies have adopted the same kneejerk stance as our local nookies. It's just as narrow-minded, just as ill-informed, and just as motivated by selfish interests and a total ignorance of the wider issues.
Perhaps they'll go the same way as VVASP, and plump for the '2km - OK' foolishness. Presumably, by declaring that windfarms are okay, just so long as they're, like, over the hill, VVASP has abandoned any pretence about concerns for wildlife.
See - if a windfarm is fundamentally 'OK', then all their hot air about threats to birds and bats must have been just that: hot air.
Hopefully, the Staffordshire campaigns will wither and crumble just as our local Lenchwick one has. There'll be no end of posturing, hectoring, bare-faced lies and mischievous, irresponsible spreading of dangerously misleading propaganda.
The protesters will make fools of themselves, just as they have done here.
They might even con or bully their local CPRE into supporting their cause.
But the world will move on, leaving them behind, with their naff placards.
But maybe not for much longer. Local news last night broadcast a piece about proposed windfarms in Staffordshire.
And what do you know? We saw the same old nimby nonsense ... noise ... health ... tra la la ... all the tired old rubbish which gets transmitted from nimby group to nimby group like swine flu.
I bet the Staffordshire protesters are also claiming that windfarms massacre wildlife. Our own dear nookies have made the same weird claims here - even though RSPB have checked out the site of the proposed Lenchwick windfarm and given it the all clear.
Indeed, the RSPB has issued a joint statement, along with CPRE and the National Trust. Together, the three organisations have backed the government's plans to increase the number of windfarms across the country, as well as investing in other renewables.
After all, it's all well and good getting pompously protective towards the countryside, but global warming is a far bigger threat to our green and pleasant land than windfarms could ever be!
All of which makes CPRE Worcestershire's decision to support the VVASP nookies even more bizarre. Their move is at odds with the stance adopted by their national body. At a national level, CPRE have expressed concern at the possibility that nimbyism has set in in Worcestershire because, as they put it, that means we'll be getting nowhere.
The Staffordshire nimbies have adopted the same kneejerk stance as our local nookies. It's just as narrow-minded, just as ill-informed, and just as motivated by selfish interests and a total ignorance of the wider issues.
Perhaps they'll go the same way as VVASP, and plump for the '2km - OK' foolishness. Presumably, by declaring that windfarms are okay, just so long as they're, like, over the hill, VVASP has abandoned any pretence about concerns for wildlife.
See - if a windfarm is fundamentally 'OK', then all their hot air about threats to birds and bats must have been just that: hot air.
Hopefully, the Staffordshire campaigns will wither and crumble just as our local Lenchwick one has. There'll be no end of posturing, hectoring, bare-faced lies and mischievous, irresponsible spreading of dangerously misleading propaganda.
The protesters will make fools of themselves, just as they have done here.
They might even con or bully their local CPRE into supporting their cause.
But the world will move on, leaving them behind, with their naff placards.
Friday, 24 July 2009
I'VE DONE IT AGAIN!
I've had my wrist slapped - quite rightly - by residents of the Lenches who really don't like being tarred with the nimby brush.
And what I'm rather ashamed about is the fact that I know there are many in the area who support the windfarm proposals, or who simply want to distance themselves from the tactics of VVASP. I know that, and I keep finding out - pretty well on a daily basis - just how many people out there are on the side of the angels in this one.
So when I go and insult everybody in the Lenches, that's be just me being careless. And I'm sorry for that.
Because there are plenty there who aren't littering the area with silly signs, or sticking them up where they've no right to put them, or flocking to meetings where they simply bolster each other's daft ideas and unnecessary opposition to a beneficial development. People who don't threaten others for holding different views, and who don't go round spreading scare-stories.
So, to those of you who don't agree with VVASP's views or tactics, I apologise for making it seem that everyone in the Lenches has been caught up in the madness, because it's clear that many have not.
Sorry.
I also understand that the nimbies really resent being called nimbies. I assume that's because they want to convince themselves that they're mounting a principled campaign and not just sounding off.
So, in a mood of contrition, I shall now adopt another word for the protesters of Lench and its environs.
From now on, I shall be calling them Nookies.
These are the 'NO - OK' bunch: the ones who say 'NO' to the windfarm, but then say 'OK' just as long as it's two kilometres away.
A muddled bit of thinking, and far from realistic.
So, NOOKIES it is.
And what I'm rather ashamed about is the fact that I know there are many in the area who support the windfarm proposals, or who simply want to distance themselves from the tactics of VVASP. I know that, and I keep finding out - pretty well on a daily basis - just how many people out there are on the side of the angels in this one.
So when I go and insult everybody in the Lenches, that's be just me being careless. And I'm sorry for that.
Because there are plenty there who aren't littering the area with silly signs, or sticking them up where they've no right to put them, or flocking to meetings where they simply bolster each other's daft ideas and unnecessary opposition to a beneficial development. People who don't threaten others for holding different views, and who don't go round spreading scare-stories.
So, to those of you who don't agree with VVASP's views or tactics, I apologise for making it seem that everyone in the Lenches has been caught up in the madness, because it's clear that many have not.
Sorry.
I also understand that the nimbies really resent being called nimbies. I assume that's because they want to convince themselves that they're mounting a principled campaign and not just sounding off.
So, in a mood of contrition, I shall now adopt another word for the protesters of Lench and its environs.
From now on, I shall be calling them Nookies.
These are the 'NO - OK' bunch: the ones who say 'NO' to the windfarm, but then say 'OK' just as long as it's two kilometres away.
A muddled bit of thinking, and far from realistic.
So, NOOKIES it is.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
PROPERTY NEWS
Another nimby myth bites the dust: the imminent arrival of a windfarm in our locale does not seem to have deterred househunters one little bit.
Sifting through the reasons why people in the Lenches - and almost exclusively in the Lenches - are so uptight over the windfarm issue, the only one that actually makes any sense (apart from the fact that they just don't want anything around them that they haven't actually built or paid for themselves) is the matter of property values.
Of course, if they really loved the place so much, the property market might not be so important to them. But they can happily rest assured.
In fact, the windfarm might well prove to be a positive boon!
Better still, it could lead to a Much Better Class of People moving into the Lenches.
One family has not been deterred from looking at a property in the Lenches just because there might be a windfarm nearby. What did confuse them, though, was all those ghastly signs that have been erected ... er ... only in a few small villages.
What is more, a couple have been looking at another property in the area, partly BECAUSE there could be a windfarm on the way.
As they were looking round, someone nearby started talking to them, mouthing off about the windfarm, you know, the usual nimby nonsense. The prospective buyer announced that they think windfarms are amazing and they'd be delighted to have one near them.
Miserable old local then mumbled something about, 'Better keep quiet about that round here', and, having done his bit to sell the area, slouched off to find a few nimby friends who might agree with him.
To me, there's a big step in the right direction looming here. It looks like the windfarm might actually attract some decent, level-headed people to move into the villages. This will certainly counteract the kind of boorish loon that has made its residence in the area recently.
The sort who believe that everything belongs to them.
The sort who don't care what lies they tell, and what threats they make, as long as they get their own way.
The sort who've made the Lenches such an ugly, nasty place of late.
So the windfarm may turn out to be a healthy thing, after all, if it brings a few more sensible people into the villages, and - who knows - maybe shuts up some of the arrogant bastards who currently think they own the place.
Sifting through the reasons why people in the Lenches - and almost exclusively in the Lenches - are so uptight over the windfarm issue, the only one that actually makes any sense (apart from the fact that they just don't want anything around them that they haven't actually built or paid for themselves) is the matter of property values.
Of course, if they really loved the place so much, the property market might not be so important to them. But they can happily rest assured.
In fact, the windfarm might well prove to be a positive boon!
Better still, it could lead to a Much Better Class of People moving into the Lenches.
One family has not been deterred from looking at a property in the Lenches just because there might be a windfarm nearby. What did confuse them, though, was all those ghastly signs that have been erected ... er ... only in a few small villages.
What is more, a couple have been looking at another property in the area, partly BECAUSE there could be a windfarm on the way.
As they were looking round, someone nearby started talking to them, mouthing off about the windfarm, you know, the usual nimby nonsense. The prospective buyer announced that they think windfarms are amazing and they'd be delighted to have one near them.
Miserable old local then mumbled something about, 'Better keep quiet about that round here', and, having done his bit to sell the area, slouched off to find a few nimby friends who might agree with him.
To me, there's a big step in the right direction looming here. It looks like the windfarm might actually attract some decent, level-headed people to move into the villages. This will certainly counteract the kind of boorish loon that has made its residence in the area recently.
The sort who believe that everything belongs to them.
The sort who don't care what lies they tell, and what threats they make, as long as they get their own way.
The sort who've made the Lenches such an ugly, nasty place of late.
So the windfarm may turn out to be a healthy thing, after all, if it brings a few more sensible people into the villages, and - who knows - maybe shuts up some of the arrogant bastards who currently think they own the place.
Monday, 20 July 2009
NOW YOU SEE THEM ...
Can anyone solve the mystery of the disappearing placards?
Friday afternoon, 4pm. Three of the new '2km OK' signs can be seen in Sheriffs Lench.
An hour later, another nine have appeared. Typically, they have been erected on land which does not belong to the protesters. (They've done this a lot. I suspect that, having bought themselves a little pad in the country, they actually believe that everything they can see belongs to them. There's probably a psychological term for this particular delusion.)
Two hours later, those nine new placards have disappeared.
Spooky, eh?
Rumour has it that 'someone' was due to travel through the Lenches, Friday evening - hence the sudden appearance of the additional signs. As usual, the nimbies were misrepresenting the strength of their protest and the popularity of their campaign.
And surely they knew that they had no right to place the placards where they did. But that didn't matter. Just as long as somebody-or-other (send your suggestions as to who this might have been to me, via the email address) saw a long line of placards cluttering up the countryside. Once the job was done, the placards could go back to where they came from.
So - familiar shenanigans from VVASP. But what was it all for? Why sneakily erect nine placards for just an hour or two and then take them away?
Better keep our eyes out for a photo in the paper or accompanying a magazine article drawn from a typically misleading and ridiculous VVASP press release. If we see a shot of rolling fields with a cluster of '2km OK' placards in the way, we'll know that they've been up to their old tricks, conning the press into thinking that the anti-Lenchwick Windfarm campaign has genuine grassroots support.
But they're kidding no one, really. Well, apart from themselves, that is.
Friday afternoon, 4pm. Three of the new '2km OK' signs can be seen in Sheriffs Lench.
An hour later, another nine have appeared. Typically, they have been erected on land which does not belong to the protesters. (They've done this a lot. I suspect that, having bought themselves a little pad in the country, they actually believe that everything they can see belongs to them. There's probably a psychological term for this particular delusion.)
Two hours later, those nine new placards have disappeared.
Spooky, eh?
Rumour has it that 'someone' was due to travel through the Lenches, Friday evening - hence the sudden appearance of the additional signs. As usual, the nimbies were misrepresenting the strength of their protest and the popularity of their campaign.
And surely they knew that they had no right to place the placards where they did. But that didn't matter. Just as long as somebody-or-other (send your suggestions as to who this might have been to me, via the email address) saw a long line of placards cluttering up the countryside. Once the job was done, the placards could go back to where they came from.
So - familiar shenanigans from VVASP. But what was it all for? Why sneakily erect nine placards for just an hour or two and then take them away?
Better keep our eyes out for a photo in the paper or accompanying a magazine article drawn from a typically misleading and ridiculous VVASP press release. If we see a shot of rolling fields with a cluster of '2km OK' placards in the way, we'll know that they've been up to their old tricks, conning the press into thinking that the anti-Lenchwick Windfarm campaign has genuine grassroots support.
But they're kidding no one, really. Well, apart from themselves, that is.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
AMAIZEING
Thought you might like this.
It's a 91m wind turbine, made of maize, as part of a maze!
Smeaton Farm is near Saltash in Cornwall. Farmer Richard Jones planted the maze on the 450-acre farm he runs with his wife and three children.
The aim, according to the BBC News website, has been to 'raise awareness of climate change and to help visitors understand how they can be more environmentally-friendly.'
Cornwall has a few windfarms. One overlooks the Tamar Lakes, a popular destination for holiday-makers, watersports enthusiasts, fishermen and walkers. The turbines, which stand just a kilometre or so from the lakes, appear to have had no negative effect whatsoever on the number of visitors to the lakes.
To me, the Smeaton Farm maze suggests that we can all stop listening to the nimby nonsense about windfarms being dangerous to health or harming one's quality of life.
They're fast becoming the icons of our times. Those who peddle the crazy stuff about them being dreadful evil killing machines are simply out of touch with reality.
They're here to stay, at least for a while, and we're going to be seeing a lot more of them. We should be celebrating them, appreciating their grandeur and the cheap, clean energy they produce - not mounting a daft campaign to keep them at least 2km away from our houses.
So let's hear it for windfarms, the astonishing, inspiring, hypnotically ethereal, environmentally-friendly power plants of the future.
We should feel privileged to be having one near us - even if some of those who already are privileged haven't seen the light yet.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
MIXED MESSAGES
Well, the new signs are going up. And they look a bit odd and ... well ... daft, really.
A stranger to the area, seeing these yellow signs, here and there, reading:
'2km OK - KEEP YOUR DISTANCE'
What would they think? Everyone should be keeping two kilometres away from the Lenches?
Even weirder is when these signs have been set up right next to the old VVASP signs which say 'NO'.
So you've got: 'NO' to the windfarm, and then, '2km OK'.
Which is it? Is it a 'NO' or is it an 'OK'? What the hell are these people on about?
One of my correspondents has pointed out to me that the two kilometre campaign has been gaining ground and suspects that this is an attempt by the protesters to appear to be taking up a more reasonable position with the regard to the windfarm, when in fact they're promoting an unrealistic objective.
After all, a two kilometre exclusion zone between wind turbines and the nearest dwellings, if implemented, would make it difficult for any kind of windfarm to be built in the Lenches, or pretty well anywhere else in England for that matter.
So, in many ways, the '2km OK' campaign is totally unrealistic. It's like the protesters saying, 'We'll accept a windfarm near us, just as long as the turbines are not more than 2ft high'!
From a PR point-of-view, the new signs are rubbish. Their message doesn't really make sense - especially when placed next to the ugly old 'NO' placards.
And, even when you've figured out whatever point the sign is trying to make, the problem then is that it's not a reasonable point.
No other country in Europe has a two kilometre limit where windfarms and dwellings are concerned.
The protesters keep rabbiting on about Scotland, and even France, as examples of places where windfarms can't be built closer than 2km from houses.
Well, that's simply not true. Neither country has such a rule.
And by imposing such a rule, uniquely, in the UK, we would simply continue to lag behind the rest of Europe in windpower.
Given the government's new commitment to windpower, the '2km' campaign is yet another waste of time. It isn't going to happen. It can't happen. It would be extremely foolish and counter-productive of the UK to impose such a rule.
I suspect VVASP know that. But they're just trying to look like they've got a reasonable solution.
Two words that don't really go together: VVASP and 'reasonable'.
A stranger to the area, seeing these yellow signs, here and there, reading:
'2km OK - KEEP YOUR DISTANCE'
What would they think? Everyone should be keeping two kilometres away from the Lenches?
Even weirder is when these signs have been set up right next to the old VVASP signs which say 'NO'.
So you've got: 'NO' to the windfarm, and then, '2km OK'.
Which is it? Is it a 'NO' or is it an 'OK'? What the hell are these people on about?
One of my correspondents has pointed out to me that the two kilometre campaign has been gaining ground and suspects that this is an attempt by the protesters to appear to be taking up a more reasonable position with the regard to the windfarm, when in fact they're promoting an unrealistic objective.
After all, a two kilometre exclusion zone between wind turbines and the nearest dwellings, if implemented, would make it difficult for any kind of windfarm to be built in the Lenches, or pretty well anywhere else in England for that matter.
So, in many ways, the '2km OK' campaign is totally unrealistic. It's like the protesters saying, 'We'll accept a windfarm near us, just as long as the turbines are not more than 2ft high'!
From a PR point-of-view, the new signs are rubbish. Their message doesn't really make sense - especially when placed next to the ugly old 'NO' placards.
And, even when you've figured out whatever point the sign is trying to make, the problem then is that it's not a reasonable point.
No other country in Europe has a two kilometre limit where windfarms and dwellings are concerned.
The protesters keep rabbiting on about Scotland, and even France, as examples of places where windfarms can't be built closer than 2km from houses.
Well, that's simply not true. Neither country has such a rule.
And by imposing such a rule, uniquely, in the UK, we would simply continue to lag behind the rest of Europe in windpower.
Given the government's new commitment to windpower, the '2km' campaign is yet another waste of time. It isn't going to happen. It can't happen. It would be extremely foolish and counter-productive of the UK to impose such a rule.
I suspect VVASP know that. But they're just trying to look like they've got a reasonable solution.
Two words that don't really go together: VVASP and 'reasonable'.
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