Two weeks ago the Prime Minister announced an ambitious new vision to make the United Kingdom the "Saudi Arabia of wind" and to power every home in the UK by 2030 by wind, however since then no detail has been revealed bar a paltry increasing to funding of £160 million for the next decade.
But for once the Prime Minister is right, we are in a climate and ecological emergency and the existing government target of 2050 is just not good enough nor are its plans to meet that target, the UK can and should be doing more.
Reviving the Navitus Bay wind farm project is a fantastic and logical place to start - it should never have been dismissed in the first place. In spite of the fact that residents supported it and the climate situation necessitated it, local Conservatives rallied vocal minority opposition and on the old Bournemouth Council even spent thousands of pounds of taxpayer money opposing it. Five years on the short-sightedness of their actions could not be clearer.
The project was forecast to create up to 1,700 local jobs in the area during its construction, a much needed boost to the local economy given the grip of the recession we now find ourselves in. But, most crucially of all we would be able to power 700,000 homes with clean, safe, renewable energy - that's all of Dorset and large parts of neighbouring counties. If the Prime Minister is serious about his goals and not just paying lip service, we're going to need to build some wind farms, and Navitus Bay is a ready made project to do so.
We the undersigned call on BCP Council to revisit the Navitus Bay Wind Farm with clear and open minds. We call for a new public consultation of residents and businesses and close working with the community and all members of the council, to help deliver much needed local investment, jobs and clean energy to 700,000 homes in the local area.
We have declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency both in BCP Council and in the UK and that requires real action from all of us to reduce our consumption, but also to be prepared to generate renewable energy locally.