By Emma Burnell / @realemmaburnell
I fully support the position of LabourList in supporting the workers of Vestas. It’s the right thing to do both as socialists and as environmentalists. But as socialists and environmentalists we cannot ignore the underlying causes of what has happened.
We know from Ed Miliband’s response that Vestas have decided that the UK market is not where they see the future of onshore wind. And who can blame them?
The polls are the polls. Yes, there’s only one poll that counts, and like all Labour activists I desperately hope it will differ from those we’ve seen over the last year or so, but we have to accept that businesses are looking at the future are almost certainly planning for the sad eventuality of a Tory government.
And the Tories are a disaster on the environment. Oh, Cameron may (once) have talked the talk and even driven the husky, but wherever Tories are in power, environmental policies are the first to be junked.
Take London for example, where Boris Johnson has been in power for just over a year. You might think all he’s done in that year is employ about a million dodgy advisors, but you’d be wrong. In that time he has abandoned the Western Extension to the Congestion Charge keeping thousands more cars on the roads, supported the expansion of City Airport, suspended Low Emission Zone measures putting Londoners at risk of dangerously high air pollution levels. At the same time he has slashed the environment team at City Hall in half, reducing the climate change and energy team to three. Hardly the leadership Londoners deserve on the environmental issues Boris himself campaigned on.
Again, Ed Miliband’s response was spot on in putting the blame for the delay in wind farms where it belongs – squarely in the court of Tory councils who have recently blocked wind farms in Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk. In Fact Owen Paterson, Conservative MP for North Shropshire is reported as saying the halting of a wind farm near Market Drayton was a “tremendous result”.
In fact, since David Cameron became leader of the Tories, SERA research has found that Conservative-run councils have opposed 80% of wind farm applications submitted to them. In contrast, Labour councils have approved a huge majority.
So is it any wonder that a company whose business strategy will rely on the continued long term investment in onshore wind - so recently boosted by measures taken by the Government in the Renewable Energy Strategy - are nervous about what an incoming Tory administration might do?
As Labour activists we should be campaigning on the fantastic work Labour has done on the environment – particularly since the establishment of the Department for Energy and Climate Change. We don’t always get it right, and I’ve been critical here and elsewhere when I think we’re getting it wrong, but we do have a strong positive story to tell.
But alongside that, we need to shine a light on Tory hypocrisy, and expose the nonsense of Cameron’s “Vote Blue Go Green” rhetoric. In fact The Tories have the worst record on this area in Europe.
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Deskille the UKs manufactuing base?
I think you'll find 30-40 years of nationalisation did that.
Nationalised monopolies don't innovate and don't develop new products. After all why should they? The tax payer guarantees their success not their own excellence.
Good luck peddling you message on the doorstep.
Emma, have you ever stood in close proximity to a onshore wind farm? Have you any idea why 80% of applications are refused? Because the average wind turbine produces a noise equivelent to a small jet engine. Several tonnes of metal stood at 60ft tall may look visually appealing to some, but would you want to live next to one or a farm of them if it sounds like an airport?
Have no fear because as Ed pointed out to Alex yesterday in a letter, he has put plans in place and acted on them to bring in a new quango that will push through planning applications regardless of the 200 anti-wind farm groups dotted around the UK. The Conservatives, like them or loathe them, are actually listening to the people in their constituencies and replying with the answers the people want, which is they don't want these wind farms onshore. What Ed plans is all very well, but it is far from democratic.
I've argued a number of times about the inefficiency of wind turbines, the realistic alternatives and how it could be achieved for a much lower budget than is being allocated to wind farms, but as Jules Wright has argued it exceptionally well below, I don't need to repeat that side of the argument.
I presume you're not too keen on ornithology then Emma? You might like to take a wander under one of these rotating giants, you get a really close look at local wild birds or at least what is left of them. Saves on purchasing binoculars at the very least.
Then there are the safety issues. Being a relatively new technology to the UK, I don't suppose those installing these iron giants actually knew in advance that they were constructing a 60ft machine gun next to housing estates in the North East of England, but when the winter came, thats exactly what they became. Shards of ice flying through the air at speeds upto 200mph, not exactly what you'd like your kids to walk to school through.
I'm Labour-minded, but what continues to baffle me is this Labour government who seem to do everything and anything to undermine democracy. Remember that word? Where someone is elected to act on behalf of those who elected them? Do you not realise that what Ed Milliband and John Healey, under the watchful eye of the leader-to-be Peter Mandleson, are undermining the democratic process under the guise of being green when in fact the programs that they are pushing for are anything but green? And you decide you use this democratic-light process to bash a Conservative over the head? Do you want to lose the next election so badly?
Wind, solar and tidal won't be really viable until there is an efficient way to store the electricity until it is needed.
Nuclear is the obvious stop gap and it's secure there are Ur deposits in friendly commonwealth countries. Only issue is that it's so expensive.
Even if the current owner still couldn't be persuaded to stay you'd soon see a buyer jump in with a government contract dangling in front of them.
Re the Tory councils - the answer is then not nationailisation but a change to planning applications regarding wind farms.
Boris Johnson kept an election promise to get rid of the western congestion zone. This has very little to do with global warming.
Have you heard of KINGSNORTH 2!!!!!!!!
Also have you heard of HEATHROW!
Throwing some mud at the Conservatives does nothing when Labour has such a shambolic environmental approach. Labour have held office for 12 years. It is pathetic to blame Labour's failings on the Tories.
1/ Labour's not doing too well at the moment, its mostly their own fault, they have lost the trust of the electorate have forgotten how to govern and, let's face it are a complete joke (I know Bob, let's sue some disabled soldiers, that'll go down well, yeah let's put our tax-free pocket money up by 25% too, LOL!) but everything but EVERYTHING is the Toriez! fault, apparently.
2/ There is a MASSIVE gap between what 'Labour minded people' believe and what the Labour Government do. And when I say massive I mean, there appears to be no connection WHATSOEVER. I hate the BNP, the swivel-eyed racist loons and agree with none of what they do - probably best if I support them then!! (that's sarcasm in case you hadn't noticed)
3/ I keep hearing why I shouldn't vote Tory and no reason whatsoever to vote Labour. There are many many ways to not vote Tory. Some of them actually involving politicians who genuinely believe in Green issues.
4/ Perhaps you read this site through different eyes than me and maybe I shouldn't be here, after all I'm just an ex-Labour voter but the same article appears again and again and basically says however bad Labour are the Toriez! will be worse. That may be true but its just miserable isn't it? Not so much 'Things can only get better' but 'Things could be even worse you know, now shut up and stop complaining'.
5/ Labour tinkering about with Green issues/Socialism/fairness like they occasionally (accidentally) do, doesn't make up for Permawar*, ID Cards, corruption, sleaze, incompetence and the sheer barrel-scraping misery that this government has become, barely a day goes by when they don't lurch from crisis to disaster of their own making always getting it wrong, time after time. They have become The Nasty Party.
(6/ Emma, I know yours is a world of trendy abbrevs but its probably best at your website to actually say what SERA is, it just sounds like the people who empty my bins to me.)
(apols for CAPS but I can't get round the italics/bold etc at LL)
* I make no excuses for being a bit of a pacifist, at one time that would have been looked on as a good thing by the British left.
Was 12 years not long enough for Labour to co-ordinate an energy plan and then purchase and hence invest in companies like Vestas?
If Tory councils were holding things back, was 12 years not long enough to find supportive Labour councils to kick start the program?
If rural communities objected, was 12 years not long enough to find brownfield generation sites, such as the massive wind turbine on the industrial estate in Reading?
Has Labour really been held back by a bunch of rag-tag Tories, who have limited the government to 'just setting targets' and rhetoric, rather than delivering actual improvements?
.........A butterfly flaps its wings in Margaret Thatcher's Finchley constituency - and 30 years later this has caused a succession of insurmountable barriers that a Labour government can't cross.
I believe however that Charles is wrong to suggest children under the age of 12 would suck up this guff; children under the age of five maybe.
Considering Heathrow is located in an area of appalling air quality in terms of PM10 and NO2 (to make it illegal according to EU2010) and has turned a deaf ear to all environmental campaigners; accusing the Tories of hypocrisy is frankly hilarious.
Aviation is the fastest growing contribution to the country CO2 emissions and yet this government exempts it from its targets.
Wind power is not a primary means of power generation; we need a secure and reliable source of power generation that works 100% of the time.
If we want this company to succeed and we are committed to wind farms, give them a very big order and sort the problems out in the meantme. Blaming Tory councils is so stupid that it beggars belief.
If this is a big issue, place a big order. If it is not a big issue, find a big issue to write about
If this is so then I suggest some legislation might be in order; the last time I looked the Government still had a comfortable majority.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to spot the spoofs; I must be getting old.
Concerns about this, and effective ways to resolve it, are not really "party" issues: attempts to cast the problem in old-fashioned out-of-touch party politics alienate supporters of both major parties. Many people don't give a rats arse about a party, but support a range of policies ... most of us work on specific issues week-by-week alongside tories, greens, and many others.
We live in a plural society - that means concentrating on working together where we can, not persistently alienating those with whom we could usefully cooperate by demonising the "other".
Wind power is a red herring. It is unreliable, expensive and ruins the environment. You need back up power stations to provide electricity when there is no wind (eg in January when it's very cold and demand is at its highest).
The obvious answers are (i) nuclear power stations and (ii) tidal/wave power.
Meanwhile, beacuse this government has ducked the issue of power generation, we face a real risk of having not enough power stations in a few years time.
You said 'It wouldn't surprise me if Thatcher had a hand in this too'. You mean the bit where she privatised and deskilled the UK's manfucturing and energy base?
You're right about one thing. Labour haven't been held back by the Tories. We were the first country to have legally binding carbon reduction targets, we led the way on setting an 80% reduction, we're leading on Carbon Capture and Storage and we're about to play a lead role at the Copehnhagen summit.
Where the UK (not Labour) has been held back has been the planning decisions of Tory-run councils. It's the UK, our skill base and the environment that loses from this... not Tony Blair.
You say 'Its dumb, thick, stupid propaganda not believed by anybody over the age of 12'. Which bit is dumb and thick? And which bit shouldn't people believe. Be very specific.
If you accept that climate change is happening, that we have legally binding targets, that we import 50% of our gas from Russia, that a hushed majority of people really want the UK to embrace renewable energy, that the UK has a golden ticket in having 40% of Europe's wind resource, it's easy to see that windfarms are good.
I actually think windfarms look amazing anyway.
Alex, this really is getting beyond a joke, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than vote tory but you are doing Labour no favours. Please give me a reaon TO VOTE LABOUR. Purlease. Its dumb, thick, stupid propaganda not believed by anybody over the age of 12, you know better than this, I know you do from the intellignet stuff you do post and allow here post-Draper.
But in the spirit of thickness, here's mine: Labour never has been and never will be a green party, look at Heathrow. Labour councils supporting windfarms? I didn't know there were any left.
SERA had previously flagged up the fact that Conservative-run councils had opposed 80% of wind farm applications submitted to them since David Cameron became the leader of the Conservative party, whereas Labour councils had approved 70%.
In the UK, there is a silent majority of people who really care about climate change and are excited about renewable energy. They are being drowned out by a very vocal minority and the planning decisions of Tory-run councils.
This issue isn't about elections. It's about the UK's wind power potential and 600 jobs within a fledging green industry that will be dispersed. It's awful for the UK, our skill ad manufacturing base and it's terrible for our climate change efforts. If Tory-run councils have been involved in strangling out the market so Vestas have to move to Colorado to meet the full potential of the market, then no-one should hide that or hold back from saying it.
Tony managed to somehow persuade the country to go to war, yet those darn Tories blocked his every move to do anything about the climate by investing in our green industry and technology companies.
It wouldn't surprise me if Thatcher had a hand in this too.
I'm not interested in scare stuff about nasty Tories, and neither are the electorate. This kinda of article is a vote-loser with the public, and a turn-off for anyone trying to persuade themselves that Labour has any positive future.
I know there probably aren't enough Labour councils left to form a statistically significant view, but I bet you a hotdog that they are just as quick to oppose them.
Know why?
Because councils are sensitive to local opinion, and local people (you know - the ordinary people of Britain? Remember them?) are generally opposed to wind farms. Partly nimbyism I admit. Partly because the look and feel of where you live is also a legitimate environmental consideration. And partly because the case for wind power is well and truely UNproven!!