The UK government has signed up to legally binding targets for reducing carbon emissions and says it wants to increase renewable sources of energy on a dramatic scale. Wind energy is expected to form the bulk of new renewable energy.
Just a few weeks ago climate change secretary Ed Miliband said opposing onshore wind energy projects should become socially taboo- so why is it that the UK Planning Inspectorate is rejecting wind energy proposals so readily?
The most recent victim is a single wind turbine proposal at a farm near Peterborough denied consent because of the potential impact on horse riders using a nearby road.
The British Horse Society claimed that shadows from moving wind turbine blades alarmed horses. The refusal was issued despite passing traffic being recognized as an existing hazard.
Given that a whole host of of countryside features create moving shadows-some far less predictably than wind turbine blades -trees, hedges, birds, cows and tractors, this outcome demonstrates that the push for renewable energy message is not getting through to many decision makers.
