A poll of tourists released today shows that Porthcawl's visitor industry could actually benefit from the construction of the Scarweather Sands wind farm three miles off its coast.
Over the bank holiday weekend tourists visiting the town's beaches were shown photo-montages created by independent landscape architects that demonstrate what the wind farm would look like from the shore at Rest Bay. Visitors were asked whether they would be more likely to return on holiday to Porthcawl, just as likely or less likely, if the development went ahead.
The vast majority (96%) said they would be just as likely or more likely to return to the resort if the turbines go up. Just 4% said they would be less likely to return. These were outweighed by three-to-one by those who said they'd be more likely to return (13%). Most people (83%) said it would make no difference. A total of 650 people were questioned.
The results destroy one of the main claims made by groups and politicians opposed to the construction of the wind farm. The campaign against the clean energy development have said that a wind farm would wreck the popular resort's tourist industry. The claim has been a main plank of the anti campaign, which has been criticised for publishing inaccurate mock-ups that hugely exaggerate the visual impact of the turbines.
The polling figures will come as no surprise to residents of North Wales. There the North Hoyle wind farm, which began construction last week, enjoys the support of locals convinced that tourists will flock to the site. In Denmark, tour agencies run boat trips to take visitors to see the offshore wind farm at Middelgrunden, near Copenhagen.
The UK's first commercial wind farm in Cornwall received 350,000 visitors in its first 8 years of operation, while the Centre for Alternative Technology, an educational centre about renewable energy (in a valley with 3 nearby wind farms) is mid Wales' biggest tourist attraction. A Mori poll in the Argyll area showed 80% of tourists said they would be interested in visiting a wind farm if it were open to the public with a visitor centre.
Natasha Richards of the local Greenpeace group, which conducted the poll, said: "The results of this poll speak for themselves and put pay to the misinformation that has characterised the campaign against the wind farm. Support for the project has been overwhelming, and with the reality of global warming now upon us people know it makes sense.."
Notes:
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning group that does not stand to benefit financially from the proposed wind scheme.
Greenpeace this month launched a new web site www.yes2wind.com with Friends of the Earth and WWF, to give people all the information they need to actively support wind power proposals locally.
