PRESS RELEASE 2nd October 2007

PARISH POLL FOR MARSHLAND ST JAMES

A Parish Poll has been arranged for Marshland St James and it will ask the question DO YOU WANT WIND TURBINES BUILT ON LAND WITHIN OR SURROUNDING THE PARISH OF MARSHLAND ST JAMES?  It will take place on October 11th at  Marshland St James Jubilee Hall from 4-9pm. The Parish Poll has been requested by a group of concerned residents owing to the fact that the Parish Council have refused to undertake any consultation of the views of local parishioners in relation to the current proposal.  The local Parish Council seem to have forgotten that they are elected by the Parishioners to serve the Parishioners and there seems to be a feeling amongst the Parish Council that the wind turbine issue is not important and is being driven by a few incoming NIMBY’s and people outside the Parish. We would have thought that the defeat of Mr Bantoft in the Borough Council elections, the turnout at the two public meetings that FLAT have held and the turnout at recent Parish Council meetings should have made it obvious to them that it is the biggest issue to face our community for many years.

However if they will not take it seriously this is now your chance to show our Parish Council (and the Borough Council who will decide the fate of the next stage of the planning application) that we do not want this development and see if they will actually sit up and listen to the results of a democratic vote. The results of Parish Poll's have made a difference in other areas and one was partially responsible for the recent defeat of the anenometer planning application at Syderstone (see our press release of 16th September). SO PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND TURN OUT AND VOTE ON THE 11th OF OCTOBER.

Because the consortium has been so lax in their consultation with our local community, a number of people in our village believe that the project application has actually fallen by the wayside.  However this is clearly not the case because there has been a flurry of activity recently including a bat & bird survey and the measurement of background sound (using sound measuring equipment that can be viewed on our website www.flat-group.co.uk).  We have also been reliably informed that a high tech anenometer (for measuring wind speeds) has been installed on the premises of one of the consortium members.  This equipment stands only 2 meters high and is somewhat less visible than the previous wind test equipment.  If you are in any doubt that such equipment actually exists, it is called ZephIR (made by QuinetiQ) and can be viewed at www.quinetiq.com.  However owing to our desire to conduct a lawfull and peaceful protest campaign and to ensure that FLAT cannot be accused of inciting acts of vandalism we are not prepared to reveal its exact location within our Parish.  If you want confirmation of any of the activities that we have mentioned above we suggest that you phone the consultant working for the consortium who supposedly has the job of keeping the local community informed of developments!!  His name is Ian Robinson and he can be contacted on 07879 680200.  Perhaps you might like to ask him if a planning application is imminent!!

The FLAT Committee