IN the novel by Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote only tilted (jousted on horseback) at windmills, which having mistaken them for giants believing their blades to be giant's arms was with hindsight a particularly useless thing to do.

Now we are building them for electricity which is just as useless. 

Back in   2010 following a suggestion by me the district council had an opportunity to develop a renewable energy policy that would have served to manage the proliferation of wind turbine applications, in simple terms a policy that would have served to advise objectors, developers, the green-lobby, planners et al.

Of late, good work on this issue by Cllr Marion Winship has also been ignored. It must be stated that many other councils have policies in place.

The planning inspector who recently refused the Poolway Farm, Coleford appeal says that the district council's policies are insufficient.

Four years have elapsed and we continue to have local democratic decisions challenged and appealed by profit-chasing developers – greed not green.

In reality wind turbines are the least efficient renewable source, generating wealth for a very few at a huge cost to the environment and our electricity bills.

One would hope that the district council will follow very closely ongoing government moves on this issue and create a policy that will give a secure future to the Forest of Dean landscape and remove the concerns and misery that surround these inappropriate actions

They should act promptly while the wind is behind them.

I must apologise if I have upset a local housing provider and the district council Labour leader for asking too many questions and striving to serve those I represent.

Rest assured if needed it will happen again – occupational hazard unfortunately.

– County Cllr Alan Preest, UKIP, Lydney.