Polly Toynbee is so right (The Tories railed against ‘green crap’. Why trust them to solve the energy crisis now?, 15 March), but it is unfair to describe those opposing gigantic windfarms and solar farms as “shire nimbys”. There are many environmentalists who don’t feel such massive industrialisation of our land and seascapes is necessary.
Insulting anyone who opposes ugly and often highly profitable developments in the name of progress by calling them nimbys has a long history – those fighting to save Covent Garden from demolition, Welsh mining communities opposing windfarms, communities saving swathes of east London from elevated motorways, and in Brighton it was local people who rejected the wholesale demolition of now thriving neighbourhoods through the creation of conservation areas. As Joni Mitchell said, “You don’t know what you’ve got till its gone”.
Let’s focus on insulation to keep people warm and lower their costs (and create skilled jobs), and on reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy security, not vanity projects for politicians and private developers.
Diane Ordish
Brighton
Diane Ordish
Brighton
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