Speeches by Crichton.

“Ali, should we just learn to live with turbines on the horizon? The planet is burning up. Should we not just get on with it?”

“Graham, in Suffolk County Council, you have had quite a lot of variation on what developers commit to to protect nationally designated landscapes. What changes would you like to see in the planning statement to address that?”

“And finance is one of the big things there, I guess.”

“Thank you all for coming in. I guess what we are dealing with here is the need to build this infrastructure for renewables, for low-carbon, and the impact it has on the environment and the places we live. Peta, the guidance on this infrastructure says that anything deemed to be of critical national priority should not …”

“Just to assuage your worries, Graham, my suggestion would be that local government be given more resources, not that national Government comes in and imposes its will on local decision making. There are huge challenges facing local government in getting this transition through, and I just think that there should be mor…”

“Sam, is the country’s love of birds getting in the way of the country’s need to save the planet?”

“You said something interesting earlier about how under-resourced local planning is. Is there a case for a planning flying squad to go from area to area to back up local councils in the same way as an environmental task force—a more holistic approach to this?”

“You gave a good illustrative example of puffins’ flight paths. Do we need more data like that? Is there data like that? Is there data to show that wind farms affect bird populations?”

“That is not because of turbines, though, but because of other environmental impacts.”

“Thank you. Isobel, when I hear the RSPB’s support for wind energy, it sounds very qualified. It sounds like objections that lots of people have: “I support renewables, but…” You have strongly criticised the way that the Government’s guidance for onshore wind farms addresses biodiversity and ecological considerations. O…”

“Is that happening? I had not heard of that.”

“Can I ask you the same question about solar farms? We have heard that the guidance is confusing, and that it is equivocal about where exactly it is best to place solar farms.”

“Message received on that. Jackie, much of the opposition to pylons is the same as the opposition to turbines. I know that we are going to have more onshore turbines in England, and people mostly say, “I am not against wind farms, but just not here.” Is the guidance sufficient on that?”

“You wanted to come in very quickly, Sam. I want to move on to pylons, so can we make it quick?”

“Sam, I know you want to come in, but let’s make it quick.”

“Jackie, there are costs the other way as well. People say that it will cost in lost tourism revenue or lost agricultural ground—there is a balance.”

“It cost £100 million to protect bats from HS2. To quote Steve Reed, and pardon my language, is all this stuff “bat-shit crazy” to put them underground?”

“Okay. Sam, does it cost to put stuff underground?”

“Isobel, where is the RSPB in this? The RSPB says that overhead lines will affect bat and bird populations, but that going underground will dig up hedgerows and bushes. Where do you stand?”

“Thank you all for coming in. I have some questions on pylons, on turbines and, I guess, on bats and birds as well. To have this transition, we will have to build a lot of pylons everywhere and a lot of people will see them. As I understand it, the assumption is that it will be pylons outside national parks, and undergr…”