Labour In A Windy Muddle

Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, has said "the government needed to be stronger in facing down local opposition to wind farms...The government needs to be saying, 'It is socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area - like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing'."

Perhaps he should contact his Labour Peers who have been opposing wind power:
* Lord Melvyn Bragg opposes a wind farm in Cumbria that he says will "destroy the place as a natural habitat for human beings, and replace it with what will be seen as an industrial landscape"

* Former MP now Lord Stoddart of Swindonsays '...even the Government admits that not only is wind power grossly inefficient but we also need to build more coal and gas fired power stations to support all these new turbines when there is no wind. I hardly think that our grandchildren will thank us for tearing up vast swathes of our most picturesque countryside to install highly inefficient wind turbines that contribute a tiny fraction of our energy needs. '

* Government "a few green shoots" Minister Baroness Vadera said wind power was 'not the most effective source in terms of energy security of supply', clear leadership.......not.



Overall Labour authorities are blocking 36% of wind farms



In the past the RSPB have been cited by groups opposing wind farms but this week they said that with an effective planning system, the UK could greatly increase onshore wind development without damaging nature conservation.

Ruth Davis, head of climate change policy at the RSPB, said it was in favour of such an expansion because of the "truly terrifying" impact that global warming was increasingly having on birds. "Left unchecked, climate change threatens many species with extinction....Yet that sense of urgency is not translating into actions on the ground to harness the abundant wind energy around us."