No more turbines says politician

No more turbines says politician

8 April 2015

UKIP councillor Henry Reilly has called for a moratorium on commercial wind turbine approvals.

Mr. Reilly, who is standing the general election next month, said there should be no more approvals until a proper strategy is put in place to determine policy on this “contentious issue” by the new Newry, Mourne and Down Council.

“The present randomness of planning control on these massive and intrusive machines has the potential to destroy the tourism market we are trying to develop with turbine planning applications pending in some of the most iconic County Down landscapes,” he said.

“It is clearly madness to degrade what is without doubt one of our biggest assets when there is increasing uncertainty on the future level of subsidies that these projects depend on. 

“It is a fact that developers do not erect these machines because of concerns about global warming or carbon reduction but to milk the lucrative subsidies that come with them.

“It is ironic that a fraction of the cash being wasted on unproductive wind turbines on subsidies would run the likes of the Mourne Heritage Trust and Ulster Wildlife Trust and Slieve Gullion group for decades to come, yet these genuine environmental groups that do invaluable work on the ground are having their funding slashed because of cutbacks.”