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Published:
February 24, 2006
Burnham-On-Sea
MP visits wind farm protesters at Brent Knoll
Burnham-On-Sea's
MP has labelled plans to build a wind farm on the outskirts of
the town as "ugly, ineffective and inappropriate" during
a visit to the area.
David
Heathcoat-Amory, pictured giving an interview to the BBC before
the meeting, met members of the 'KNOll to Wind Farm' pressure
group in
Brent Knoll on Friday February
24th to discuss the controversial plans for five huge turbines
on land at nearby Edithmead.
 Talking
to Burnham-On-Sea.com, he said: "I think the farm would probably
be ugly, ineffective and be inappropriate for this area."
"There's a risk that we could deter tourists from coming
here."
But
he added: "I'm not here to discuss the location of the wind
farm, which is a matter for the planners. I don't interfere with
planning policy."
"I'm
here to highlight an ineffective, mistaken government policy on
renewable energy - it's nonsense to think that wind farms can
combat global climate change."
Andy
Manning, spokesman for 'KNOll
to Wind Farm', said he was pleased by the visit and added: "Support
from our MP can only be good news."
"We
were able to show David the proposals and discuss them with him
in some depth. We also had a chance to meet several people from
Burnham's pro-wind farm group."
Rod
Winfield of the pro-wind farm group, FORCE (Families for Clean
Energy), told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "There were four of us
against 40 anti-wind farm people, but we felt the MP listened
to our views as much as theirs and did not favour one over the
other."
"One
or two people verbally tackled us over our views, but there was
nothing unpleasant. They are sticking to their guns and so are
we," he said.
Ecotricity,
the Gloucestershire-based company behind the proposals, is expected
to submit its planning application for the wind farm very shortly.
RELATED
LINKS:
MP
to visit wind farm protestors at Brent Knoll
New
pro-wind farm group backs Edithmead wind farm plans
'Property
prices will be hit by proposed wind farm' claims action group
Wind farm group pushes
green agenda
Ecotricity holds wind farm open day
New action group formed to fight wind farm
Council leader
slams plans for wind farm
Huge new wind farm
proposed for Edithmead
Ecotricity Web site
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