Through the industry’s mouthpiece, the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) we are often told that public opinion is on the side of onshore wind farm development. For example the FAQ section of the BWEA’s website states:

 “Opinion surveys regularly show that just over eight out of ten people are in favour of wind energy, and less than one in ten (around 5%) are against it.”

How you interpret this ‘fact’ depends on the detail of how the questions were framed, how informed the respondents are about the issue, and the way the ‘population’ of people was sampled.

First, it is very easy to ask questions that solicit the answer you want and then misrepresent the results. It might well be that when asked a straight question if wind energy is a good thing, nine in ten will tick the ‘yes’ box. It’s ‘motherhood and apple pie’ isn’t it, who could possibly object? What there is abundant evidence to show is that when a reasonably informed public are asked a more direct question such as “Do you want commercial wind ‘farms’ in the countryside?” the large majority always answer with a resounding NO.

Second, asking somebody who has no experience of living close to a wind farm is really asking what for them is a ‘hypothetical question’ about something of which they have no knowledge. One way to ensure that respondents are aware of the nuisance that winds farms create is to look at the results of the all-too-frequent attempts by developers to extend already ‘up and running’ wind farms or where there are proposals for new winds farms close to existing sites. In such cases local residents and their councilors have a good idea of what to expect. The evidence here is that people who know about them are overwhelmingly against them. Ages ago in 1999 a survey of polls by Angela Kelly of the Countryside Guardian summarized a number of such expressions of opinion, for example:

•  A Summer 1997 Windfarm Poll by the County Times about wind farms in Mid-Wales had 781 responses resulting in a 79% ‘no’ to more wind farms in Mid-Wales. Two years later, at Easter 1999, the same newspaper reported that over 90% of responses said ‘no’ to more wind farms in Montgomeryshire;
• Also in 1997 at  Cold Northcott, Cornwall, showing a dramatic change of attitude, councillors rejected a planning application for an extension to an existing wind farm by 25 votes to 9 and had 780 letters against with not even one in favour!
• In the same year at nearby Davidstow an application for a wind farm was overwhelmingly rejected with 813 letters against and only 3 in favour.                                                                                                                                                            

These reactions were over a decade ago, so perhaps as the alleged threat from global warming has become greater, opinion might have swung the other way? Again, the evidence is pretty conclusive, the more people know about them the more they are opposed:

• In Scotland, where there are many operating wind farms, the Lochaber News  in August of this year (2009) reports that in response to the question “Should councillors approve NBW’s plan for four wind turbines above Corpach? The results was 10% in favour and a wacking 90% against;
• At the other end of the country but again where wind farms scar the landscape, the Cambridge News for 27^th March 2009 asked the simple question “Do you think we should build more windfarms?” with a ‘yes’ vote of 29.4% and a ‘no’ vote of 70.6% ;
• In Wales surveys by the Western Mail (December 2008) and S. Wales Evening Post (November 2008) with much the same question gave ‘nos’ of  86% and 71% ;
• Even more amazing was the submission of objections to the recent Isle of Lewis proposal where the voting with 11,456 submissions was 0.5% in favour and 99.5% against.

Quite how this can be translated into ‘eight out of ten in favour’ escapes us!

Third, any professional in surveys of public opinion will tell you that what also makes the results hard to interpret is ensuring that the sample of respondents is in some sense ‘representative’. This cuts both ways. For example, if a newspaper or website asks people to vote on some proposition or other, chances are that only people who are engaged with the issue will do so, with a resulting bias in the percentages either for or against. We are well aware, for example, of carefully orchestrated campaigns elsewhere in the county to bias opinion polls in favour on local wind farms by the ‘green’ lobby without considering any of the local circumstances or arguments.

At Harrington, Nuon have tried to play the same game and have persistently misrepresented local opinion. In their Statement of Community Involvement they have used extremely lax social survey methods to justify ludicrous and entirely incorrect claims about the community response to their proposal. For the record, a survey conducted by Maidwell and Draughton Parish Council in 2008 distributed to every household in the two villages most affected received responses that were 84% against the proposal. A further poll after a public debate in the same parish held on 30^th March 2009 at which both sides of the argument were presented and gave a similar proportion against. A similar public meeting in Harrington on 6^th April 2009 was even less equivocal, with all (100%) present being opposed to the scheme.  

Perhaps the BWEA’s statement should be amended to read:  

“Reasonably well-sampled and carefully worded opinion surveys regularly show that eight to nine out of ten people are against wind farms being built in their locality, and less than one or two in ten are for it.”

DU.