Wind Turbines in Coventry

The Telegraph has a two-part story today on wind turbines in Coventry:

part one:

part two:

Keith Baughan ordered a £1500 wind turbine for his house, and to help out, he received a £500 grant from the Low Carbon Buildings Energy Trust. However, he has had to pay £135 for the planning application, then have drawings done of his house, and when a neighbour put in an objection, he was asked to carry out a "full acoustic assessment."

Baughan says:

"That's something I can't do on a wind turbine that I don't actually have. The company themselves are doing an assessment but that will take up to six months. By that time the deadline for the grant (of £500) will have run out."

"I find it ironic that they are more worried about noise pollution than they are about global warming. Every politician shakes their green credentials at you. I can get a grant from the DTI, I can buy a turbine - I just can't put it up! It's been made so difficult and expensive that it's no longer really viable. I'm on the verge of giving up."

David Cameron’s rhetoric will only be credible if Conservative-controlled councils put it into action. Otherwise, people will see through them, and up and down the land, they'll vote for the Green Party.

Citizens like Keith Baughan should be empowered, not deterred. The council should encourage ways of putting wind turbines, combined heat and power units, solar panels or ground-source heat pumps on every 3rd building in Coventry.

A good start would be to make planning applications for renewable energy free of charge.