Campaign groups clash over turbine report

A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) highlights the dramatic roll-out of onshore wind turbines and calls on the Government to do more to protect the countryside. The campaign group says that in many cases these are damaging valued landscapes and intruding into some of the most tranquil areas of England. The CPRE is now calling for a locally accountable, strategically planned approach to onshore wind development. Chief executive of CPRE, Shaun Spiers, said onshore turbines threaten the "beauty and tranquillity of much-loved landscapes." He added: "There is no easy way to provide the country with the energy we need. CPRE accepts onshore wind in the right places as part of the mix required to meet the UK's carbon reduction targets, but we are seeing more and more giant turbines sited in inappropriate locations. "Communities feel increasingly powerless in the face of speculative applications from big, well-funded developers, and this risks undermining public support for the measures needed to tackle climate change. "The English countryside is one of this country's great glories. It will always change, of course, and it is right that the countryside should play its part in supplying the renewable energy the country needs. But we must find a way of reconciling climate change mitigation and landscape protection. Otherwise we will sacrifice the beauty and tranquillity of much-loved landscapes for at least a generation." Shaun Spiers concluded: "In spite of localist rhetoric, the industrialisation of valued countryside is happening as a result of central government policies. The Government must take responsibility and set out far more clearly a framework for meeting the country's energy needs while protecting our matchless countryside."