The differing views about the distances of large turbines from homes and the impact of wind turbines on the environment, landscape and tourism mean that a Forest of Dean Planning Policy on renewable energy will now be developed by the council and this is a very welcome development. Forest of Dean District Council have to be congratulated on taking this forward.
It is also hoped that GreenTrust Wind, who will be consulting for LAiP about their energy project, will consider the more viable and sustainable alternativess of solar (PV) and hydro energy which have a much reduced landscape and environmental impact provided they are located sensitively.
The remark by Cllr Biddle in last week's?Review that anybody objecting to his wind turbine proposals is showing signs of nimbyism is very sad. There are a range of well-funded alternatives to the challenges of finding renewable energy sources. The loss of green fields, particularly with the destruction of swathes of agricultural land around Lydney for unsustainable housing, means that further encroachment on the local landscape and rural environment have to be resisted. If, in the course of battling climate change, we industrialise the landscape and countryside we will, in the words of Oscar Wilde, 'kill the thing we love.'
– Lydney and West Dean Windfarm Action Group.