The recent focus has been on the success, or otherwise, of the G8 and its attempts to re-shape the world. In addition to debt reduction and specifically Africa, the environmental impact of man’s misuse of his planet has also been of great interest to British citizens. It sometimes feels as if we are willing to make a sacrifice for the greater good whilst others, notably the US government, are not. There is one issue in the forefront of this dilemma that has come home to the British and to the West Country in particular. It is the wind farm.

Proposals to install 300ft (100 metre) wind turbines in Devon and Cornwall raise the game considerably and whilst the few existing100foot windmills have often been controversial they have been tolerated. A device three times the size is a different matter however and, as many have said before me, it shows us that size really matters. What about other places that are not that far away from western England? Turbines are accepted in other European countries, why not in Devon and Cornwall? It is worth looking more closely for the answer.

Germany with its strong environmental ethic has the most turbine friendly legislation and it has been a boom industry there for a decade. Spain is next in the line of wind turbine users and is arguably a better comparison, as there are similar trends here but one major difference. It’s size again of course.

Since Don Quixote, Spain has been famous for windmills. The huge flat expanses of La Mancha are natural windmill country and it is no surprise that that is where many of the Spanish turbines are located. Aragon too has a high level of wind energy schemes. This is big country and it is possibly the crunch issue for West Country people, for by comparison it is a very different environment indeed. Spain is almost twice the size of Britain with around half the population. There are areas of it that are very sparsely populated indeed and consist of barren or poor land that make conventional agriculture a difficult and expensive process. Just remember the “Spaghetti Westerns” made in Spain because if resembled the Arizona wilderness. Plonk a 300 foot windmill here and there are few people who it affects.

Of course this does not remove the environmental dilemma. We, as a nation, feel strongly about the environment and are high in the European recycling league tables. We want to reduce greenhouse gasses, to do our bit for the planet and especially our own area. The recently released map projection of the UK after the polar icecaps have melted, provides a sobering picture of Britain. Especially the West of England, who’s huge coastline makes it especially vulnerable to climate change and the inevitable sea level rises.

So what should the priorities be? Environmentalists are as divided as any other opinion group and in Spain this is no different. In this respect it mirrors opinion in Britain. We must save the environment by reducing greenhouse gasses and find alternative energy sources but wind turbines ruin our environment in a different way, so what is the true environmental path?

The British are more aware of the windmill issue than the Spanish simply because of the size of Spain. So far it has only affected a minority of the population, mostly in the rural poorer areas. Some villages have formed successful co-operatives to build and run their own turbine and in so doing, they generate cheap electricity and sell the surplus to the national grid. Perhaps this village involvement is the way to go? It involves the whole community who all benefit and so balances out any annoyance the turbine may cause. However, whilst this has worked in sparsely populated rural areas, as the turbines begin their march across the Spanish countryside, more people are becoming affected and opposition is rising. The wealthier the area the less appealing a co-op owned and run generator. In addition, as technology becomes more sophisticated and the size of the turbines increases so does cost and those communities that might favour a co-op scheme are finding it harder and harder to finance one. 

The question most Britons will have to face is to decide which matters most, the environment of the planet or the environment of the local area or region. If we take the NIMBY approach it’s easy enough to make that decision but most of us don’t want to go down that road and are not selfish people. National polls have shown that the environment is an increasingly important issue for the British and so is an issue that will not go away. We need to have some principle to guide us in this tough decision and I think we’re back at size again.

Alternative energy is vital and we will all have to make some sacrifices and find a compromise but if we compare the size of La Mancha with Devon and Cornwall it easy to see how different these two places are. Britain’s West Country is world famous for it’s beauty and its economy is largely based on tourism. To cover it with 300 foot windmills will hardly improve either. 

One solution might be a study to define what would be an acceptable level of 100 foot turbines and plan the local contribution to global stability along those lines. Of course this raises the question of who would carry out and subsequently implement the findings of such a study. In Spain there is devolved regional government and so the inhabitants of any area where turbines are proposed have a louder voice as well as their revenge at the ballot box if things don’t turn out the way they want. Would we feel so confident in Britain with a national government so keen on control? If the West Country were in a similar position to regionally governed Spain, perhaps the problem could be resolved locally?

There is of course no such regional government covering Devon and Cornwall that could take these difficult decisions although there are some who think there should be. Now there’s a thought.

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