The 15 Turbines proposed for Tapeley Park
I do not have a photo of Tapely Park, but this was taken in Bideford, and you can see the hills across the Estuary. Tapeley Park is a stately home near Bideford and Instow, on the hills above the Torridge estaury.
I first met Hector Christie when he came to an evening at Broomhill Art Hotel, put on by Ottakers Book Store to promote my father James Lovelock`s book, "The Revenge of Gaia". My father gave a short talk, and then there was a question and answer session.
Hector stood up and spoke at length (he had a script) about the dangers of nuclear power, to the point where the audience became cross, because they had not paid for their tickets in order to hear a talk by him, and wanted to ask their own questions.
Afterwards, we did speak to Hector at the buffet supper, and he gave me a copy of his speech to read. I had heard about him previously and admired his stance over Foot and Mouth. He quotes Michael Meacher and George Monbiot extensively, and is against nuclear power. Many people in North Devon who support wind power stations seem to believe that that this is an either/or question, that if you have wind, you won`t have nuclear, or some other far more polluting power stations, such as coal. Because of the intermittency of wind, you have to have back up power stations, for the times when there is little or no wind, or too much wind (they have to be shut down if it is too strong)
It is perfectly possible to be anti-wind power and anti-nuclear as well - certainly some of the members of Artistsagainstwind farms are anti-nuclear, and we do not have a policy on that issue. I personally think that nuclear is the sensible option if you want to reduce C02 emissions but that is my own personal opinion, and I am happy to give a platform to any artist who disagrees with this, as long as they are against wind-power stations in wild and rural locations
Interestingly, since that time, George Monbiot, who takes global warming extremely seriously, has moderated his opposition to nuclear power, and quite recently he said (when interviewed at the Hay on Wye Book Festival, 2007) that support for wind turbines was giving environmentalism a bad name. Here is a link to the interview
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6696915.stm
A while later, Joanne Bell told me that Hector had invited several of us over to Tapeley Park because he wanted to learn more about wind power. He had announced in the Press that he wanted 15 giant turbines at Tapely Park (he said he was in talks with Ecotricity) and would even like to put them on Braunton Burrows ( a world-renowned nature reserve) although I think he later said that this was more for effect than a serious suggestion. I thought the meeting was because he wanted to talk privately about the issue, and learn more about our reservations, but perhaps I misunderstood because when we got there it was more like a debate, with quite a contingent of his supporters. Anyway, it was an interesting evening, even if we didn`t change any minds! The only thing we all did agree on - if I remember correctly - was that over-population was the biggest issue of all. Jon Hooper who runs the North Devon Greens website was there, and we have communicated since on another issue (buses and public transport)
Noise: Wind farm developers talk a lot about the "myths" about wind power, put about by people like us. They produce very convincing and beautiful brochures - Hector showed me one that he had been given. I have to say that they are so convincing that I almost believed them myself for a while. If I had had Hector`s email address, I would have sent him some information about noise, because I was concerned for him and his family, if he was allowed to build these turbines.
There were
several big articles in the local Press about
Hector`s
plans,. I have searched Google for them but they haven`t shown up for
some reason. I did find these links that tell you somethng about
Hector,
and Tapely Park, the estate that he inherited. http://www.tapeleypark.com/fcc.htm
http://www.tapeley-park.co.uk/news.html
What happened to his plans for turbines at Tapely Park? The feeling seems to be that it wasn`t possible... perhaps he was told that he would never get permission on such a site. I don`t now, I haven`t found anything on the web yet.
What did happen was that suddenly, just before the Public Inquiry into the Fullabrook Wind Turbines in October 2006, a new group appeared, called "Friends of Fullabrook", led by Hector, and you could read more about that on the Fullabrook Page.
The photo on the right was taken in Braunton Burrows, which is owned by Christie Estates .
Hector`s brother wants to put a large wind turbine on the hill above Glyndebourne, in Sussex.
2008 Note: with the encouragement of Hector Christie and his "so called" Friends of Fullabrook (a very small group compared to all those who objected to the proposal), planning permission has been granted for the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station, which will overlook not only the view from Fremington and the Taw Estuary, but Braunton Burrows itself.
2008 Note: This summer we heard the shocking news that planning permission for an industrial turbine has been granted at Glyndebourne - the first time such permission has ever been granted in a National Park.
For the final word on this subject, see this video.
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