Best solution (From Evesham Journal)

Best solution

9:00am Thursday 21st March 2013 in Letters

WHY are Willersey residents so outraged about a local farmer making a fantastic contribution to our energy needs by supporting a solar farm on his land?

(Journal, March 14) Visually it will be boringly similar to the vast acres of single crop agriculture, or polythene sheeting, that are widespread in our countryside. Except, of course, that a solar farm allows livestock to graze underneath the panels and continues to support a mixed wildlife habitat, which monoculture destroys.

It will also provide welcome extra income for a farmer. He should be supported, not criticised.

I would ask, where do those residents get their electricity from? Is it a polluting fossil fuel or radioactive nuclear power station, conveniently situated in someone else’s backyard?

The time to get outraged is when central government, having squandered £400 million on unused boreholes for nuclear waste in Cumbria, starts in desperation to seek a depository in Evesham clay.

They have looked before.

Or when the “Dash for gas” moves down from ground-shattered Blackpool and seeks to start fracking our Vale with highly pressurised, hydraulic chemicals.

The best solution for the residents of Willersey is to seek a partnership with Belectric Solar. They could ask that the scheme be made into a community project, with a chance for local investment, praising the farmer for his enlightened foresight.

We need all the local renewable energy we can get.

MICHAEL T PARKER Sedgeberrow