THE TRUTH WILL OUT

Thanks largely to members of the pro-wind farm group BLoW (Back Local Windfarms), there have at long last been some answers trickling out from the parish councils to pertinent questions concerning the Windfarm Working Party.

First of all, Bishampton and Fladbury have been happy to admit that no public money at all went to the Windfarm Working Party - it all went to Church Lench Parish Council.

The Windfarm Working Party is a bit of a waste of time. Back in May 2009, Fladbury Parish Council noted that the six local parish councils had "got together to work alongside the action group VVASP". Magically, a month later, that collaboration had become a "separate entity to the protest group VVASP". But, as Church Lench Parish Council's minutes indicate, figuring out where Church Lench PC, the Windfarm Working Party and VVASP overlap and where they don't is completely and utterly impossible. Especially when the Chair of Church Lench PC is also on the Windfarm Working Party while continuing to display VVASP placards on his property, while the Clerk to Church Lench PC is the same Clerk to the Windfarm Working Party who specialises in not answering questions about what her groups are up to.

Fladbury offers an interesting illustration of what's been happening locally. When a vote was taken in June 2010 over what representation Fladbury would make regarding the windfarm, the Parish Council was split down the middle. 4 voted to oppose the windfarm plans. 2 voted against this. 2 abstained. Of course, the antis carried the day, and will not doubt believe that they represent the majority ... when they don't even represent the majority on their own parish council!!

Rather like Norton and Lenchwick, where the decision to pay £750 of parishioners' precept money to Church Lench Parish Council also split the PC right down the middle.

Meanwhile, it has come to light that our parish councils, dancing like marionettes to VVASP's tune (as played by Dr Rod Stroud on his little pipe of untruths), have commissioned Dick Bowdler to act as their noise consultant on the windfarm plans. Coincidentally, Dick Bowdler's website indicates that he has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about windfarm "noise" and specialises in helping groups to oppose windfarm plans.

Now, we recall that Dr Rod Stroud was happy to tell people around the country that the Wychavon planning officers are "biased" in favour of the windfarm. At the same time, parish councils (under his direction??) are paying OUR money to a biased noise consultant!

And this is being done at the insistence of a few hotheads whose fingers could hardly be further from the pulse. Only by misrepresenting the strength of local feeling can our parish councillors (or, in the case of Church Lench, the VVASP stooges who took over after Stroud's misfits disrupted too many meetings of the real parish council) can a few parish councillors get away with spending our money on biased reports while the Chief Nimby goes about making slurs against the district council's planning officers!!

Yes, folks - the world has well and truly gone mad.