Meeting with Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat MP for North
Devon
Also in the photo is Alex Tutton (Sticklepath and Roundswell News) Photo by Jane Faust
From the walk diary
"At Fremington Quay, I met another friend, Jane Faust, from the Two Moors Campaign. This time I did stop, and we went into the cafe and had some tea, which was very welcome. As we came out, Alex Tutton from the Sticklepath and Roundswell News. arrived, with our local North Devon MP, Nick Harvey, who has been so supportive to the group fighting against the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Proposal. We went out onto the Quay and looked across the Taw to the hills on the other side. Fullabrook Down Wind farm is almost a misnomer as a name: it covers such a vast area, from the hills above Braunton, up the hills near Ilfracombe.
In the photo on the
right we are looking across at the
"Fullabrook" hills. We could see Ashford and Heanton
Punchardon, and behind them the range
of hills where the turbines would be. Now that I have been to
Bradworthy, I felt a shiver of anxiety for the people who live in that
area. The houses nestle in little valleys, with the turbines on the
ridges above them, totally dominated by them and vulnerable to all the
worst effects of noise and infrasound." (June 2007 note - this month a
family in Lincolnshire had to abandon their house completely because
they could no longer live with the noise the turbines near them made) "The Roundswell and Sticklepath News is a free magazine that is delivered every month to homes in the area. They had put an article in their first issue about the walk, and Alex Tutton wanted to interview both Nick and I about the subject of wind farms in this area. Nick Harvey said that he was against putting large wind turbines in the countryside, especially beautiful countryside like that of North Devon. He agreed with both Jane and I that there were better and more efficient forms of renewable energy. If you had to have wind turbines, he suggested that there were places such as ports (like Rotterdam in Holland) where they were far less obtrusive. Jane Faust mentioned how moved she had been by the plight of the people fighting the Fullabrook Down proposal - this threat has been hanging over their heads since 1992. Each time the wind farm has been refused the developers have come back again with yet a larger proposal."
This photo shows Jane as well, and again you can see the hills across the estuary. You can also tell that it was a cold day!
Here is a link to Nick Harvey`s website
And a link to the Roundswell and Sticklepath News
And
here is Fremington Quay, and as I took this the sun was about to
come out, and suddenly it became a nice day.For the rest of the walk, after I had said goodbye to Nick, Alex and Jane, go to
this page
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