Wind Farm Impact

WindFarms can create few if any local jobs. A typical WindFarm may employ only a single maintenance operative. The largest WindFarm in Europe has three full-time employees. At the Bryn Titli WindFarm in Wales even the construction site workers were Danish - erecting Danish turbines.

Every turbine to be used in the WindFarm projects which are currently on the drawing board, is of foreign manufacture. Dazzling creative accounting can be used by the wind industry to arrive at employment figures "relating to" wind energy, but the simple truth is that if the subsidies going into renewables were diverted to energy conservation, then thousands of jobs would be created at a stroke, and far more emissions would be saved. Connah's Quay gas-fired power station created or secured 8,000 jobs, and all of the 500 contractors and consultants were based in the UK.

One of the only benefits to an area can be the site rent (?1,000 - ?2000 per annum per turbine) paid to the landowners. The benefit could easily be outweighed by a decline in tourist numbers. It should be noted that with holiday cottages and caravan sites, tourism has become an important element of farm diversification. What one farmer gains another may lose. This is one of the reasons that communities have found themselves torn apart by the wind issue.

WindFarms Affect Property Values

There can be no doubt about the impact WindFarms can have on house values. A partner in Durrants, the Mayfair and East Anglia chartered surveying firm, wrote (May 1998):

"I can confirm that the outlook from a property does have a major bearing on its value and if this outlook is tarnished by a wind turbine or any similar structure, the values would be significantly decreased."

International property consultants FPD Savills wrote in May 1998:

"Any structure that can be viewed as an intrusion into the countryside such as electricity pylons or wind turbines will have a detrimental effect [on property values]. Usually, it will not only effect the value but also saleability which is not necessarily the same thing. Generally speaking, the higher the value of the property the greater the blight will be ... As you go up the value scale, buyers generally become more discerning and the value of a farmhouse may be affected by as much as 30% if it is in close proximity to the wind turbine. Those houses that are within earshot are likely to be affected worst of all."

A chartered surveyor from Cumbria wrote of his experience:

"I am a chartered surveyor and recently sold my house at Lambrigg. I found that the proposed windfarm there had a devastating effect on the value of my property. Three local agents all valued it at about ?295,000 and during the first few weeks on the market we had three offers at around ?280,000. Each accepted offer fell through as soon as it became apparent that the Wind Farm proposals at Lambrigg, Firbank and Whinfell would all overlook the property. After being on the market for six months, and no less than nine failed sales, we eventually succeeded in selling to someone who wasn't bothered about them, but at a knock-down price of ?250,000."

In Denmark, the National Association of Neighbours of Wind Turbines state that most estate agents estimate a 25-30% fall in property values when wind turbines are erected nearby.