14.04.14
Are wind farms really so unpopular?
Around two-thirds of people living in Britain would rather live near a wind farm than a fracking site, a new YouGov report commissioned by Ecotricity has revealed.
This comes only days after the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, extended his powers to “pull” renewable energy projects for a further 12 months. So far, using recovery powers, Pickles has pulled in 33 wind projects, made up of a mix of individual turbines or larger projects, comprising 93% of all wind energy capacity currently at appeal in England.
However, the latest research comes as Ecotricity founder Dale Vince accused the government of contradicting its own research on public attitudes to onshore wind.
This is because figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), which has been conducting its own Public Attitudes Tracking Survey since July 2012, currently show that 64% support onshore wind, with only 28% of people supporting fracking in the UK.
But while both polls reflect a continued public preference for onshore wind over fracking, the Ecotricity founder suggests that the government is reportedly preparing pre-election promises to the contrary, with tax breaks and planning short cuts for fracking - while potentially bringing the development of onshore wind energy to an end.
Vince said: “You have to ask why the government is ignoring the results of its own surveys on both wind energy and fracking – they are actively going against public opinion on both issues.
“If Cameron and the Conservatives believe that wind energy is worth opposing because it is unpopular, who do they think it is unpopular with? The government’s own polling clearly shows that they can’t be thinking about the general population.”
(Image by www.freeimages.co.uk)
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