Government Energy policy must change

HUGH ROBERTSON JOINS CAMPAIGN AGAINST WIND FARMS

Hugh Robertson has today joined a political campaign to force the government to change its energy policy away from wind farms towards other forms of renewable energy. Hugh Robertson’s constituency is currently facing the construction of a 45 feet high substation in the marshes north of Faversham to service offshore wind farms.

The campaign aims to persuade the government that wind farms, and their support structures, can be intrusive, visually unattractive and damage the environment in key conservation areas – such as the North Kent Marshes. It aims to promote the development of other renewable technologies such as tidal, wave and solar power and, crucially, biodiesel.

Hugh Robertson said: “At the Swale Friends of the Earth environmental debate during the General Election, I said that I was in favour of renewable energy but thought that the government’s policy had wrongly favoured wind power over other renewable energy forms. My concern over the Cleve Hill substation proposal has always been that the site was selected specifically because so few people lived nearby – a policy which, if repeated elsewhere, would result in the loss of much of our remaining open countryside.

“I urge the government to abandon its preoccupation with wind farms and concentrate instead on other renewable energy forms such as biodiesel. The development of a viable biofuel industry, which has been unfairly held back by the Chancellor’s fuel duty, would be hugely valuable to the rural economy.”