STATEMENT OF NEED

In its 2007 document, 'Meeting the Energy Challenge', the DTI published a 'Renewables Statement of Need'. It should be required reading for all Wychavon District Councillors.

Take this paragraph:

New renewable projects may not always appear to convey any particular local benefit, but they provide crucial national benefits. Individual renewable projects are part of a growing proportion of low-carbon generation that provides benefits shared by all communities both through reduced emissions and more diverse supplies of energy, which helps the reliability of our supplies. This factor is a material consideration to which all participants in the planning system should give significant weight when considering renewable proposals. These wider benefits are not always immediately visible to the specific locality in which the project is sited. However, the benefits to society and the wider economy as a whole are significant and this must be reflected in the weight given to these considerations by decision makers in reaching their decisions.

(Our emphasis)

And then there's this bit, which should be read by all Parish Councillors - especially those who ought to be hanging their heads in shame:

PPS22 makes clear that regional planning bodies and local authorities should not make assumptions about the technical and commercial feasibility of renewable energy projects, and that possible locations for renewable energy development must not be ruled out as unsuitable in advance of full consideration of the application and its likely impacts ...

What else did the raging nimbies of Church Lench Parish Council and its Anti-Windfarm Working Party do, but make assumptions about the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm and endeavour to rule out the location before they'd even seen the planning application? This was precisely what the original Parish Council was determined to avoid doing - which is why they had to be bullied into resigning, so that they could be replaced by people who had VVASP placards and stickers plastered all over their property.

So ... 'crucial national benefits' ... 'benefits shared by all communities' ... 'benefits to society and the wider economy' ... the very things that VVASP and its pet Parish Councillors committed themselves to opposing.

Maybe it's the idea of 'benefits' that they just can't stand.