Dear Sir,
My constituents directly affected by proposals for wind farms in our precious Hertfordshire countryside will not have welcomed the uncritical support of the Hitchin Labour Party for such developments (Letters 26/6/08).
Why does a country such as ours, an island lapped by waves and blown by winds, with substantial reserves of coal as well as oil and gas have an energy problem? We have more potential than most countries to produce renewable energy using tidal power, off-shore wind farms, micro-generation including solar power and hydropower. We also have a population willing to help by embracing energy efficiency. We should be backing carbon capture and storage, so that our coal reserves can be used cleanly and the technology shared with the great emerging economies of the world, such as China.
The sad truth is that for the last 11 years the Government has been sleeping on the job. While countries such as Germany have invested in renewables such as solar power and pressed energy efficiency, our government has dithered. There have been warnings from a Royal Commission and the Geological Society of London about the energy gap, to no avail. The Government’s heralded Marine Renewables’ Development Fund has not backed a single project. They have not urgently supported Carbon Capture and Storage.
Despite opposition from communities all across the UK, concerned about the protection of the beautiful countryside so characteristic of our nation, the Government appears determined to focus almost exclusively on wind energy, with 4,000 new onshore turbines planned. This is just another example of dithering followed by the clunking fist offering a blanket solution to an intricate problem?
Oliver Heald MP