Should a Wind Farm Be Built at Gunson Height?

Should Permission be Given

for a Wind Farm at Gunson Height?



Hills rolling across the countryside, lush green fields for miles, dozens of walk paths to appreciate the beautiful scenery, used by families for picnics and days out, as well as hikers wanting a view worth walking miles to. Or a piece of rugged, unspectacular England that is just like seven thousand other walks in the country? Dozens of 30M tall hideous steel contraptions, cutting blades slicing through the air and making the noise equivalent to an oncoming car. Or machines designed to make the planet a cleaner place for the creatures and future generations destined to live here?



This was the situation with Gunson Height. Gunson Height was a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and an area popular with walkers. There were plans to build a wind farm in the area, which bought up many concerns over the effects on the environment wind farms actually had, and would it outweigh the benefits given? According to statistics, 80% of the residents were in favor of a wind farm being built. However, many people weren\'t sure whether the environmental and cost benefits would balance the damage to the scenery that would be caused. This meant that there were three options, to either continue plans to build, build in a different area than planned, or not to build at all.



The UK is currently uses 70% fossil fuels, 27% nuclear and just 3% renewable energy sources for power. There is enough coal left for approximately 200 years. Whilst this doesn\'t seem to affect todays population in a major way, it will be the future generations to suffer. The vast majority of coal for the UK comes from the North Sea, where there are sufficient coal reserves, that are cheaper to transport to power stations. However, just because the coal is cheaper to use, this doesn\'t mean that it is as clean as other coal reserves in the world. Fossil fuels release Greenhouse gases, warming the earth...