Green issues should be both Environmentally and Economically Sustainable, and the proposal for a windfarm at Lodge Farm should be examined from these two aspects.

Environmental Sustainability

Wind is free, and the harnessing of its power appears at first sight to be an attractive proposition.  But our precious landscapes are also free, as is our accumulated historical heritage, which should be left as unscathed as possible for future generations.  The proposed windfarm site is in the middle of a Special Landscape Area identified in the Daventry Local Plan 1997. In September 2004 Daventry District Council adopted the Brixworth Village Design Statement as supplementary planning guidance. This states as part of Landscape Guidelines (LG 1) “The view of the village and the church approached from the north along the A508 is especially vulnerable, and developments, ……..….must proceed very sensitively to preserve this view.” The proposed windfarm would be in the forefront of that view of the church, which has been a land mark for nearly 1400 years.  We owe it to the future to continue to protect that special landscape.

Global warming. Forecast trends of global warming, on which government policies are based, do not allow for the fact that average global temperatures have not risen in the twenty-first century.  Forecasts of the eminent dangers of catastrophic alterations in the world’s climate may be premature. In the meantime perhaps we should suggest that most wind development should be offshore.

Rises in CO² The 2007 scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were based on models which assume a causal connection between CO² and global warming.  Global mean temperatures have not increased in this century but CO² emissions have.

We do need to curb CO² emissions but that can be done in other ways, and it may be premature to assume the link between the increase in CO² and climate change. Indeed forecasts of climate change may also need to be revised if this century’s trends continue.

Economic sustainability

Government Subsidies. The building of wind turbines is heavily subsidised by the government – without the subsidies most of them would not be built. Bolsterstone claim the average pay back for the energy used for construction is within 3-10 months.  But if they are so economically viable why the heavy government subsidies? Past political history has shown that subsidies, poured into doubtful economic enterprises, almost always fail in the long term.

Measurement of costs
It is notoriously difficult to place a cost on a future development.  In this case the carbon savings would need to be measured against total carbon costs.  However Bolsterstone’s estimates do not take account of the carbon cost of manufacturing the turbines, transporting them; the production of one thousand tons of concrete for the foundations of each turbine; the cost to the public in terms of delays on the A508; grid connection; etc etc. There are also the immeasurable costs in terms of loss of a treasured landscape, and the opportunity cost of the alternative use of those resources.

It is very easy to salve our consciences by supporting the Lodge Farm Windfarm and to claim we are helping to save the planet.  There are better ways of being green, which do not involve spoiling the countryside and do not waste money by pouring money into inefficient enterprises.

Dr. Paula Jones, Brixworth, 5 September 2008