Scrap subsidies for new wind farms.
The UK should stop giving new subsidies for wind farms, according to
UKIP’s North East MEP, Jonathan Arnott.
The call comes following the news that the anti-wind farm, Middleton Burn
Action group, were barred from the premises of a public exhibition by a wind
farm developer.
The community organisation were barred from the building where the
organisation’s exhibition was set to take place, with the company claiming that
some of its ‘large’ members had previously acted in an intimidating
fashion.
The group has dismissed the accusation and slammed the company’s decision
to bar the group from the property, maintaining it will take up a place outside
the venue.
Jonathan Arnott, UKIP’s local Euro MP, said “Taxpayers are still paying vast sums
on top of their electricity bills to fund wind turbines across the UK. These
subsidies, given to wealthy landowners and big corporations, have a devastating
effect on pensioners and low income families in our region who will face the
stark choice this winter between heating and eating.”
Middleton Burn Ltd is proposing to erect fourteen 125m turbines at its
site in Belford, Northumberland.The turbines would be six times the height of the Angel of the
North. Jonathan added “By driving up energy costs, reducing
competitiveness and deterring investment, a recent report highlights that for
every one ‘green job’ created, four are destroyed elsewhere in the economy. Wind
turbines are a hugely inefficient energy source which the taxpayer simply
doesn’t get value for money from. We should scrap subsidies for wind farms at
the earliest opportunity.”
