Sherington Tory

I attended the Planning Committe meeting on 17/12/07 that approved this scheme. Rather than go through a blow by blow account, I'll bullet point some of my observations and end with the letter that was published in the Citizen on 27/12:

• Many of the "pro-windfarm lobby" in attendance were from outside M K. In fact the couple sat next to me had travelled from outside Kettering in Northamptonshire.
• Their behaviour was quite odd to say the least. One man was sat on the front row with 2 big green stickers stuck to his forehead, while the other campaigners who had been bussed in were sat all holding up A4 posters with "Vote Yes" on them. Cllr Isabella fraser (LD) commented in the chamber that the presence of so many people from outside MK was obviously intended to put undue pressure on the committee and that she fgound it quite intimidating.
• Cllr I Fraser also commented on the deluge of papers submitted the day of the hearing from YourEnergy to be verging on being out of order, and that it was impossible to consume so much information in such a short space of time.
• Cllr John Bint (Cons) quite rightly attacked the bias of the paper submitted to advise council officers as being biased and inaccurate. He also pointed out that WYG's own website extols their ability to obtain planning consent for contentious schemes in areas of outstanding natural beauty and as such they were not likely to giv e a balanced opinion. He then went on to examine the bias in their report, noteably the inaccuracy of their photmontage.
• Cllr Bint made the observation that WYG were recommending that we trade "first division countryside for 4tyh division wind (power) generation".
• The Labour members voted en bloc in favour of the scheme in line with their party's n ational policy mandate.
• Cllr Barbosa (LD) made a tangenital point about Portugal that was, frankly fatuous, and how we had to act to prevent the UK from becoming the kind of arid dustbowl that he was used to in that country before voting for the scheme.
• Cllr Chris Williams (LD) made a pantomime show of waving in his arms in the air in indecision before voting for the scheme. It was obvious that he took the matter so seriously (sic).

.

Tuesday 18th December 2007

Dear Editor

The decision taken last night by the Planning Committee of Milton Keynes Council to approve the environmentally disastrous wind farm in Emberton can only be described as the wrong decision made on a wind farm application at the wrong time, proposed in the wrong place. Indeed Cllr John Bint summed the situation up quite succinctly when he suggested that what the committee was being asked to decide upon was destroying “first division countryside for fourth division wind (power)”.

I believe that the process itself was fundamentally undermined by the quality of the advice given by officers to the elected members. Inexperienced in determining wind farm applications the decision was taken to obtain advice from White Young Green partners, a consultancy well known in the property sector as being one of the more aggressive supporters of development. Asking WYG to offer advice on whether or not to approve the decision to press ahead with such a damaging scheme was akin to asking turkeys their views on the abolition of Christmas: a foregone conclusion before they began. Indeed having read their submission it is apparent that it weighs less heavily on the arguments against the development as for. Cllr Bint got less than satisfactory answers from WYG’s representatives on the accuracy of the photomontage and questions went unanswered as to why 125m turbines were necessary if, as YourEnergy claim, technology is advancing. I urge BLEW to consider mounting a legal challenge as a matter of urgency and seek to have the decision referred to a Judicial Review.

But what of the community? Emberton is a village in conflict with itself. The Parish Council and the majority of residents have expressed their opposition to the scheme. Indeed 86% of residents polled by the Parish Council wanted the application turned down. Petsoe has been the scene of angry protests in recent months and this has not been helped by one or two residents attempting to give the false impression that there is muted support for the scheme within the village, claims that are only leading to resentment and ill feeling. The challenge now to the village is to try and reconcile itself and to try and heal the divisions that exist. As a resident I will do all I can in the coming months, however I think it is important to recognise that the blame for what has happened does not rest with individuals but with YourEnergy who have cynically sought to exploit Government subsidy with utter indifference to the consequences to the village. Should this scheme go ahead the residents of Emberton will have to try to find a way to put recent events behind them. I doubt very much that once YourEnergy have repaid their venture capital and run off with their subsidies leaving behind their monstrosity wind turbines, un-productive and thus un-maintained and left to rot as they no doubt will be, you will not see the “caring, considerate face” of their PR machine attempting pacify the community as they will be long gone and onto their next “project”. How sad that not enough of our Councillors recognised the dangers in time to prevent the potential devastation their decision will no doubt cause.


Yours faithfully



Keith Fraser
Conservative Party Spokesperson
Sherington Ward