Greenpeace comment on Countryside Agency moves over wind farm site

5 May 2005 - Commenting on the Countryside Agency's decision to draft new boundaries extending the Lake District National Park to include Whinash in Cumbria, the site of a proposed windfarm, Greenpeace campaigner Simon Clydesdale said:

"The timing of this recommendation seems too much of a coincidence in the light of the ongoing windfarm inquiry. There is an ignoble tradition of manipulating the boundaries of national parks to exclude areas of interest to the quarrying industry. Now the Countryside Agency is reversing the trick and wanting to extend boundaries to forestall an important initiative to tackle climate change."

The move is in direct contradiction to government guidelines directing that "developmental pressure alone can never justify a boundary change" (Alun Michael, Minister for Rural Affairs, 6/5/04). These same guidelines state that "boundary changes should be rarely needed and evidence... must be compelling". Yet the Countryside Agency itself notes that this area suffers fragmentation by the M6, A6 and pylons, M6 noise pollution and "incongruous features" in the landscape. This alone should be sufficient to withdraw the proposed extension.

Simon Clydesdale continued:

"The development of wind energy on a large scale is essential to combat climate change and so to preserve the beauty and environment of the Lake District. The Countryside Agency seems to have completely lost sight of the real picture."

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