The following statement was given in response to a query on Facebook as to why we appear to be so anti wind turbines.  It is repeated here for those of you who do not access Facebook

MABRAKE was established to campaign against ‘inappropriate planning decisions in our area of West Devon’. Our aim is to protect this area which is one of great landscape beauty and has remained relatively untouched for 1000 years. The area is the highest point between two great open spaces, Dartmoor National Park and Bodmin Moor and is clearly visible from both. It includes part of the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has been designated an area of Great Landscape Value. It contains the ancient hamlets of Kelly, Bradstone, Dunterton and Milton Abbot which encompass a number of Grade 1 & 2 listed buildings. It has a number of iconic views to Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, Tamar Valley, Brentor Church and the Lyd Valley. For these reasons we campaign against any planning application which could have a very significant impact on our landscape or our residents and their historic buildings.

We have been specifically campaigning since 2011 against a proposal to place two 300 ft wind turbines within our area on Ramsdown and Borough Cross. If such a development was allowed it would in our view have a major impact on the landscape and the villagers which would far outweigh the contribution to renewable energy they would provide.

We are not NIMBYS or Climate Change Deniers and we have not campaigned against reasonable renewable energy developments within our area. One such was a solar farm which has been installed at Sherill Farm and there have been other individual solar installations. In fact we have been strongly lobbying West Devon Borough Council to have an environmentally friendly strategy for installing renewable energy in West Devon which would encompass small scale solar, hydroelectric power, individual home solar installations and widespread improvements in home insulation. In this way we believe that West Devon could make its contribution to lowering CO2 emissions without destroying its unique landscape.

The reason why you see so many references to Wind Turbines on our website is simple – we are not alone in believing that these installations are having a very destructive impact on both landscape and people. Their contribution to renewable energy output is also very expensive and intermittent. In our view other forms of low carbon energy must be invested in including: solar, hydroelectric, coal and gas with carbon capture together with Nuclear. These all have their own issues to address but they do not have the widespread impact on the UK countryside and village life, nor are they so costly or inefficient. We are not incidentally against Wind Turbines at sea although would question their reliability and cost.