James Gray MP persists in telling anyone who will listen, most recently his colleagues in Parliament, that Wiltshire has achieved its renewable energy targets. How can this be, when the council’s newly adopted core strategy has no targets? It states there is no need “to justify the overall need for renewable energy development, either in a national or local context”.

Wiltshire has a fine record when it comes to solar farms, with 38 sites either constructed or approved for planning. If they all get built, this has the potential to supply around a third of the homes in the county with green electricity, but takes no account of what is used in industry. The UK has a binding target to generate 30 per cent of all electricity from renewables by 2020.

This is the second time Mr Gray has made this false claim about Wiltshire’s renewable energy targets. The council wrote to him the first time to correct his claim. The public deserve a sensible debate about energy production and use; but they are ill-served if Mr Gray continually misleads voters and Parliament.

Phil Chamberlain, Green Party Prospective MP for North Wiltshire, Colerne.