Clubs, Classes & Sports

What's On

Saturday 8 February 2014

Wind Farm Moves Further & Closer

Navitus Bay Development Ltd has recently announced that it will scale back the proposed wind park off of Milford on Sea.

click image to enlarge
The good news is, that it is now proposed to be 2.6 miles further out at sea from Milford on Sea (14.5 miles). The bad news is, that the wind farm is still moving forward. 

In a self-congratulatory announcement, Navitus Bay Development Ltd have said “In response to feedback received from the public and statutory consultees during the final round of consultation last year, the developer will remove the northernmost part of the development – the ‘top triangle’ – which will move the site up to 3.8km further away from the shore." (To read the full story click here) (To read about Milford on Sea specifically click here)

Hmmm, I suspect that a lot of people also told them where they could put their wind farm, but that wasn't mentioned and isn’t happening.

Amusingly, one of their stated benefits are “to make an important contribution to the local economy in the shape of jobs and investment". Is there anyone reading this expecting to be getting a job cleaning the 194 wind turbines or working long shifts in a rib flaying their arms as a mobile bird scarer? 

The opposition group, Challenge Navitus, have responded by saying; “The wind farm has been reduced by 12% from 1100mw to 970mw, which is still 8% higher than the original 'budget' of 900mw” and “The threats to the environment, tourism, birds and navigation remain almost unchanged, and the onshore disruption will be the same". The wind farm would still span 1.8x the width of the entire Isle of Wight and stand up to 2.8x its height, so it would be a highly prominent industrial development in what is currently one of the best, unspoilt views on the south coast of England. (To read the full story click here)

View of Wind Farm from Milford on Sea
click image to enlarge
I have to say, I am very much a 'live & let live' kind of guy, and I have never been on a protest march for 3 reasons: 1: They normally walk to far. 2: I am not anti anything enough, and 3: I am still traumatised by the costumes at The Gay Pride march I bumped into in London. In particular, the guy on roller-skates with a big moustache and wearing just an open leather waistcoat, feather boa and rather tight leather pants. 

No one seems to talking about the potential Noise Pollution. From what I have read, existing wind farms can generate a constant low drone, which any tinnitus suffer will tell you is a curse. 

I am no expert on any form of energy generation, unless perhaps it is the kind you generate when eating food. Neither have I been convinced by any of the arguments on the efficiency or worthwhile contribution of wind farms. 

On the contrary, I think there is a much stronger case for fracking. Indeed, I agree with the case made by Boris Johnson in favour of fracking: click here to read Boris's article. As Boris puts it; "The hills and dales of Britain are being forested with white satanic mills, and yet the total contribution of wind power is still only about 0.4 per cent of Britain’s needs. Wave power, solar power, biomass – their collective oomph wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding".

Of course,any support of fracking will sound like a ‘NIMBY’ (Not in my back yard) statement, but take a look at fracking in the US and you see a reduction in home energy bill costs, real new jobs and not one field mouse has died from water poisoning.

So, as the wind farm moves closer to arriving in Christchurch Bay, it looks like local shipping will have a new large roundabout to navigate, and the turbines will soon be chopping up innocent sea birds at the eyesore on the horizon from the Milford on Sea beach. 

If you fancy making a comment for someone else to read one of these days, simply click on the pencil icon below. 

Navitus Bay Development Ltd
www.navitusbaywindpark.co.uk

Challenge Navitus
www.challengenavitus.org.uk

2 comments:

  1. What a shock to read of the wind farm development to spoil one of my favourite views. Each year inrecent time I have spent a glorious week walking from Lymington and along the coastal paths towards Bournemouth further west. This needs to be further challenged.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Having grown up in Milford and returned here to have my own children, I don't particularly want the view spoiled either. But 0.4 of our energy from renewables (a figure which is contested) is still better than nothing. We have to do something for our children and grandchildren as all credible scientists are saying the recent storms and weather may well be driven by climate change (see Sir Robert Winston on QT) and to continue to do nothing just because we don't want our view spoilt seems pretty selfish and self-defeating to me. Also George Osbourne has already clearly stated that fracking will not bring prices down; why would a French energy company want to subsidise UK energy consumers? They won't. Have you also seen the places in the US where they can literally set fire to their tap water because of the methane that is periodically released because of fracking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LBjSXWQRV8
    Not for me thanks, I'll stick with the wind turbines!!

    ReplyDelete

Please Note: Your comment will be approved by the administrator before publication. This could take 24 to 48 hours. Thank you.