NAWAG launch press release - Tuesday 16 June 2009

Grass-roots revolt against wind farms

New national alliance of community action groups formed to challenge turbines' impact on communities and countryside

The launch members of NAWAG will recruit as many as possible of the estimated 200-plus local action groups in existence across Britain, to create a powerful and authoritative voice for communities in the face of the highly resourced pro-wind lobby.

NAWAG will campaign to raise the profile of a range of issues, including:

• the adverse visual impact of inappropriately sited turbines on the British countryside
• the health and amenity impacts of turbines being built too close to people's homes and places of work, arguing for a 2km exclusion zone
• the threat to habitats and wildlife from turbines, especially to bats and birds
• the ‘cowboy' techniques of wind farm developers looking to force turbines on communities
• the fact that wind energy cannot reduce reliance on conventional, carbon-emitting energy sources, as wind provides an inconsistent level of supply to the national grid
• the potential damage to tourism jobs from wind farms

The emergence of the group comes as a spate of controversial planning applications has emerged in beauty spots throughout the UK in the year that more people than ever are expected to take their holidays in the UK.

Affected communities are now being increasingly ‘worn down' by ruthless developers who submit repeated planning applications, securing permission through a process of attrition.

An initial focus of the group's activities will be its engagement with the Conservative Shadow Cabinet, many of whose members actively oppose wind farm developments in their home constituencies.

Commenting of the launch of the organisation, their spokesman said:

“For too long, the ‘greenwash' of the wind industry has gone unchallenged, and that stops today. As anyone who has come up against the pro-wind lobby will tell you, behind wind power's ‘cuddly' image lies a cynical and harsh reality.

“Communities up and down the country are simply not prepared to stand by and let our landscape be disfigured by wind turbines that will do little or nothing to stop climate change, less still secure our energy supply.

“Beautiful Britain is everyone's backyard: every landscape is at risk of industrialisation from a wind lobby high on public subsidy and hungry for profits.”

He added:

“NAWAG will provide a voice and a resource for all current and future community action groups looking to oppose wind farm applications.”

Ends

1. Further information please email windaction(at)hotmail.com.
2. The launch members of NAWAG represent groups in the following county areas:
   Angus, Caithness, Carmarthenshire, Cambridgeshire, Ceredigion, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Powys, and West Stirlingshire.