Cheshire’s green energy resources debated at community meeting

Mar 18 2010 by Naomi Dunning, Chester Chronicle

GREEN energy sources in rural Cheshire was the hot topic at a meeting between villagers and council leaders.

At the Gowy and Eddisbury Community Forum, Cllr Hugo Deynem was asked to explain his views on whether wind farms should come before natural gas extraction in Cheshire’s renewable energy policy.

He said: “It is not about whether we have wind farms or gas extraction, in my personal opinion it is about having a balance between the two and it is about looking at the feasibility of both.”

He added: “We have government targets for renewable energy and it is unlikely we will hit that target. As a community we should be exploring all renewable energy resources.”

At the meeting a representative from CHART (Cheshire Against Rural Turbines) said: “We are trying to fight the proposal for five turbines which will be higher than Beeston Castle to be built in Eaton.”

“We are very concerned. We would like to think that natural gas extraction should not take second place to wind farms.”

Cllr Andrew Needham added: “If there is natural gas, we should be using it. It is much better than exporting it from places like Russia.”