Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

OPTIONS

Good policy can come with a sting in the tail. It is laudable that major new housing developments should have to generate a certain amount of their power by renewable onsite means, thus helping to save carbon emissions. I accept that sometimes it is necessary for his kind of policy to be imposed from on high to bring about desirable change on the ground; otherwise things would never change. OK so far.

But the decision revealed in its recent plans by South Hams Council that twenty five per cent (rising to fifty percent by the end of the power) needed to light up the new homes at Sherford must be generated in this way creates a new set of challenges for local communities already reeling under the pace of change. To generate that kind of electricity will require (we are told) five massive wind turbines.

Most local people have slowly come to terms with the proposed development at Sherford which we cannot stop. The developers have done a good job in listening to local community representatives and shaped their design to best meet the wishes of the area. But many problems remain to be solved, not least the transport links, and I continue to reserve my position on the scheme overall until we can see that our existing roads are not going to be swamped. Final decisions will be made over the next 18 months or so. Please don’t forget to have your say by responding to the South Hams consultation.

Some people like wind turbines, the majority don’t. But no one can dispute that the eastern approach to Plymouth is about to be radically changed. On one side of the A38: a brand new power station its chimney stack visible for miles; on the other, 5 gyrating visitors from Mars.

My cry is for joined up strategic thinking from our civil servants and local government. Somebody should be looking at a map of this area and say: look, they’ve had to take a power station they don’t want to generate power locally; we can’t impose wind turbines on them as well. Or at least cut the 25 % requirement to a more manageable level. Fantasy thinking? It would seem so, but I will be trying to persuade the relevant authorities. These two developments, effectively side by side, must be seen in the round, and their collective impact on Plymton and Plymstock has got to be softened.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 17, 2006