Green MEP intervenes in Romney Marsh wind farm probe
29th Sep 2004
Green Euro-MP backs wind farm in Michael Howard's Kent constituency
Kent Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has called for planning permission to be granted for a proposed wind farm to be built at Romney Marsh.
Dr Lucas, who this Friday (October 1st) will join Hythe's Mayor Wendy Harris to inspect the site - and consider its visual impact for herself - warned planners that Kent will be one of the worst affected counties unless climate change is held in check by a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing CO2 emission means using less energy, and switching to renewable methods of generating it, she told the forthcoming public inquiry into plans to build 26 turbines capable of generating 78 megawatts - 80 per cent of Shepway's electricity needs - at Little Cheyne Court on Romney Marsh.
The South-East England Green Party MEP, who is a member of the European Parliament's Environment Committee, said: "Climate change represents the single biggest threat to both human civilization and the environment as we know it - and the answer lies in changing the way we use and generate electricity now.
"The Little Cheyne Court wind farm proposal will generate as much as 80 per cent of Shepway's current electricity needs - any objections must balance this enormous long-term benefit.
"Of course wind farms must be sensitively designed and sited but renewable energy generation on an economic scale remains the only viable answer to catastrophe - as one of the counties likely to be worst hit by the effects of climate change, Kent has most to gain from implementing solutions, however radical they at first seem."
Dr Lucas comments came in advance of a fact-finding visit to the site this Friday (October 1st).
The proposal has been rejected by Kent Council and Shepway District Council - against the advice of their officers and purely on landscape grounds - but the size of the development means the final decision will be taken by Trade and Industry secretary Patricia Hewitt. She has called a public inquiry to hear local objections in October and it is expected to last three weeks.
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