On a frosty and sparklingly clear morning, I strolled down from Black Hill to Cwm, admiring the majestic views of the Clun Valley. How fortunate, I thought, that we citizens of Clun live in the heart of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This, and an array of other environmental designations, largely protects our landscape from intrusive and destructive development. But not entirely.
The management of the AONB is currently asking whether wind farms should be permitted within the hills of South Shropshire. The answer must be a resounding "No". The AONB designation indicates outstanding landscape value and it follows that this landscape needs the strongest protection from intrusive development, including wind farms. Climate change is a pressing priority, but that does not mean that our most exceptional landscapes should be spoilt in an attempt to generate low carbon electricity.
It is not that I think that wind turbines are ugly. Far from it. A single turbine is a graceful and aesthetic blend of technology and art. At Bryn Titli over in Powys the turbines have been erected in a majestic array along the whaleback of the hill. It is a wind farm that could easily win the Turner Prize, but it is also an exception. Most wind farms are ugly clutters of turbines scattered across the landscape with regard only for capturing the wind, when it blows. Llandinam and the heap of wind farms overlooking Aberystwyth are examples that defile their landscape.
Of course, we need to reduce CO2 emissions. But what sense is there wrecking the most beautiful landscapes when our government is still hell bent on expanding Heathrow and other airports, and on building a new generation of coal fired power stations?
This does not mean that there should be a total ban on wind turbines within the AONB. Individual turbines, small in scale and sensitively sited, have a role to play in providing farms, business and communities with power. As you drive north of Bishops Castle on the A488 look to your right to see the single wind turbine at Lower Bent, More. It is a textbook example of the scale of turbine that is at home in our landscape and we should have more of them. But a wind farm along the Corvedale side of the Wenlock Edge would be unwelcome. Yet this location is identified as a suitable in the draft Management Plan for the AONB because of high wind speeds and low landscape value. It should be the job of the AONB to enhance the less good bits of the landscape, not hand them over to the latest fashion for satisfying the thirst of our power hungry nation.
It is not a surprise to see the AONB float the idea of wind farms. Even the RSPB, a long standing opponent of turbines because of potential injury to larger birds, is planning turbines for its reserves. That may be batty, but the truth is that these days the way to get street cred in the environmental world is to erect a wind turbine. The AONB should drop this trendy proposal and concentrate on its long term objective of protecting the South Shropshire landscape. And the government should get its act into gear on offshore wind, wave and tidal energy. That is where our energy futures lie, not in the blue remembered hills of Shropshire.
Andy Boddington
Not published in the Clun Chronicle, January 2009 (held over for later edition).