IT was sad to see a good local councillor, who has served Lydney and Bream so well over the years, let down by his political party last week. Terry Glastonbury has done his very best representing this area on the county and district councils. When the local MP, Mark Harper, canvassing with him last week, was asked about wind turbines his answer was full of political double-talk. The government promotes 'localism' and if you speak to Mark Harper he will tell you the planning decisions about whether turbines can be erected are matters to be determined locally.

However, we are not allowed to have local planning policies that restrict them. When Terry Glastonbury and his colleagues reject applications on a sound basis, as at Poolway Farm, Coleford, then the promoters of these intrusions on the landscape have a right of appeal. The appeal is not decided by local people but by a planning inspector from Bristol, with no local accountability, who prioritises the government's interests over local views. Councils can become frightened of the costs of these appeals and officers can give up because of the risks to their budgets. Local people can only make decisions that the government approves of.

Terry Glastonbury is still a district councillor and I hope he and his colleagues make the right decision about the Alvington Court wind turbine planning application and reject it. Many local people are against this application which is the first of four that could create a wind farm down the A48 side of the Severn. Similar wind farm proposals for four turbines at Berkeley Vale and also at Oldbury on the opposite side of the Severn estuary have already been turned down by planners. Ironically, it is because of the inefficiency of wind that the rush is on to provide a nuclear backup. The government should recognise that the target for wind energy has been reached and turn off the tap for the inflated subsidies that keep these projects springing up. These schemes are merely designed to spin money into the hands of their developers.

The National Planning Policy Framework that creates problems for Terry Glastonbury and his colleagues should be adjusted so that local people can make local decisions without fear of any additional costs. Mark Harper should be backing up the decisions of his local councillors not undermining them.

– John Ridley, Aylburton, Say NO To Severn Turbines.