THE letter in your paper from Geoffrey Somerset (Chairman, Vale of White Horse District CPRE) causes me some concern.

Firstly, I find it most surprising that Mr Somerset feels his survey results are correct, when he has made it plain to everyone that CPRE is opposed to the proposed wind farm.

Any experienced researcher will tell you that letting the people receiving the questionnaires know what your own opinion is, is a guaranteed way to get the result you want. Unfortunately it completely invalidates the survey.

When Oxford Brookes University conducted a professional and independent study on the same subject, its results directly contradicted the CPRE survey, showing that a substantial majority of local people favour the proposed development.

Secondly, you might be interested in our experience in Cumbria, a county reknowned for its beautiful countryside Baywind Energy Co-operative has operated a community-owned wind farm (not unlike the one proposed for your area) for the last six years.

We have not had a single complaint about its impact on the countryside and it is in harmony with local amenity groups.

This bears out reports from other areas, where possible objections often disappear as soon as it is seen that the reality is nothing like as bad as the claims made before it is built.

Our experience is that even those individuals who might not choose to have turbines built locally understand the necessity for the UK to develop renewable energy sources and that they cannot always be somewhere else.

In co-operation with enthusiastic local residents, we hope to be able to offer people living in the Vale of White Horse area the opportunity to own a share in the proposed wind cluster, through a locally owned co-operative.

We hope that at the appropriate time many of your readers will want to take up this opportunity to do something positive about global problems we all face.

ANDREW KING

Chairman

Baywind Energy Co-operative, and Community Energy Management Ltd

Barrow in Furness

Cumbria