Public meeting on proposed Goveton wind farm .

Mike Treleaven, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Totnes will tonight attend the public meeting called to discuss the proposed wind farm development at Goveton near Kingsbridge. The meeting will be at Buckland Tout Saints Hotel, Buckland Tout Saints starting at 7.00p.m.

Speaking before the meeting Mike Treleaven said:

'The proposal for three 100 metre high wind turbines at Goveton is extremely controversial with strongly held opinions both for and against. There is no doubt what so ever that we have to increase our renewable energy generation capacity, along with many other measures, to reduce energy consumption as part of the drive to lower carbon emissions. Wind turbine generation is one way of doing and, in my judgement, can make an effective contribution if located in the right place. We must be careful, however, not to be environmentally friendly on the one hand whilst at the same time damaging the natural beauty of the location and I have concerns that turbines of this size may be counter productive at this site.'

He continued:

'The most important consideration is the views of the local community and that is what I want to hear tonight. This Government has set out planning guidelines that leave little leeway to local planners and give little say to the local population and this has to be wrong. It is the local community that is largely affected by such proposals and their needs must be recognised.'