ASWAR replies to Peter Hoggett in the Rugby Advertiser

Dear Editor,

While understanding John Philpott’s concern (April 7^th) that an historic corner of Warwickshire will be affected if wind turbines 5 times the height of the 9^th century church spire are erected in the beautiful, meandering Swift Valley below Churchover, I also agree with Peter Hoggett (April 14^th) that modern arguments need to be made to counter-act the well-funded wind lobby.

• A wind turbine in Reading last year cost £138k in subsidy and produced £100k in electricity, operating at 15% capacity. It is in a low-wind area similar to around Rugby.

• There is increasing evidence from around the world of health hazards from wind turbine noise and infra-sound. Do we around Rugby want to be guinea-pigs?

• Some 80% of the ‘investment’ in the new Thanet windfarm has been spent outside the UK. The subsidy cost of the 21 permanent jobs created is £57m each. It is not surprising that independent economists calculate that every one renewable job costs around 2.2 in the productive economy.

• Ex-Chancellor Lord Lawson states; Chris Huhne’s emphasis on wind power is the most ante-manufacturing government energy policy ever.

• UK windfarm subsidises in 2010 were more than £1billion, paid for by a rise in all our electricity bills, thereby increasing fuel poverty.

Peter Hoggert may question the above facts but hopefully being fair-minded he won’t mind checking out our website www.aswar.org.uk on which he will find corroborating evidence and many other arguments that suggest that intermittent wind technology is not only flawed for those around Rugby but will also harm the wider national economy while doing little to cut CO2 or abate the effects of climate change.

Yours faithfully,

Lorne Smith 

Chairman

Against Subsidised Windfarms Around Rugby