90% of Stroud District say yes to changing Stroud’s energy future
The results are in, and people in the Stroud District have voted overwhelmingly for a future powered by wind.
The vote ran for a total of nine weeks and with nearly 1,000 votes cast, 89.9% of votes cast answered ‘yes’ to the question, “Should we make 50% of Stroud’s electricity from local wind energy?”.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us their view, either online or by post.
5050 has given a voice to the silent majority in favour of powering Stroud with wind. The vote was intended to kick-start the debate about our energy future in the Stroud District and demonstrate to the Council what people in the area really think.
The need for us to harness renewable energy in the UK is clear and compelling. Firstly we have the looming global energy crisis – the world is running out of fossil fuels, our own North Sea is all but depleted, and we rely on increasingly unstable parts of the world for our energy. Secondly we can’t afford to burn fossil fuels anymore, it’s the biggest single cause of Climate Change in the UK – and that threatens our ability to live on this planet.
Ecotricity’s first ever turbine was built right here. Thirteen years have gone by since then and it’s still the only turbine in the District – in the County in fact. We all need to be taking more action, and more quickly, the climate won’t wait. Climate change and energy security are such pressing issues, much more has to be done to enable wind energy in all parts of the country.
The survey results echo our experiences in other parts of the country, where there is ‘massive but passive’ support for our wind farm plans. Opinion polls consistently tell the same story – generally upwards of 80 per cent of people in every opinion poll survey ever undertaken in the UK support wind energy, including in their own backyard. The Stroud 5050 campaign has proved that Stroud District is no exception, and the public will is there to make a change.
We’re really chuffed with the result, but we also know this isn’t the end of the road. It’s an important step to making sure that the voice of the silent majority gets properly heard in Stroud. These are our thoughts, we’d love to hear yours…
as unlikely as it is, hopefully this might help inform Stroud local council on any decisions they make with regards to wind development. *crosses fingers*
Shame only 1000 managed to respond, I think the margin would have been even greater. But that's the problem I guess, the majority don't mind/like them so aren't spurned into action.
It's hard to galvanise a response from apathy.
Yeeeeaaaah to the pro-wind folks!!!
This is about as a big an indicator of a "silent majority" being for this as an election where a party is voted in on 38% of the votes from a turnout of 35%. The party then claims "mandate" when in fact only 13% of the population actually voted for them - it's a fog of statistics.
I still can't seem to find actual figures for the number of turbines that would be needed to deliver ON AVERAGE 50% of Stoud's power or would it actually just be in ideal conditions? These are two very different things entirely. Remember when the wind doesn't blow there is no power, when it blows too hard they have to be shut down for safety, when it is very snowy and icy you have to watch out for car sized blocks of ice being hurled across the landscape. In all of these cases base load (coal, gas, nuclear) has to take over and Stroud gets 0% of it's energy from wind. In order to really say it gets 50% on any meaningful level it should be getting near 90% in ideal conditions, and that would be a LOT of turbines.
Wind has it's place, but will only ever be a contributor and not a major player on any meaningful level.
I believe the number of turbines would need to be around 16
As for "car sized" blocks of ice... not sure it really gets cold enough in Stroud for that!
Stroud recieved 104 written responses of which 68% were in opposition and 19% were in support. The oppositon was highly organised which resulted in this high percentage of responses, so 19% support is quite impressive; planning applications are more often contested than supported. However two petitions were also submitted, 420 in favour and around 200 against. This demonstrated that there was a "silent majority" in favour.
Phil Skill, head of planning for Stroud District Council, said: “With renewable technology so topical, this 15 metre tall, six kilo-watt turbine has created more interest, both for and against, than applications we have had for major housing developments. As a planning authority it’s great to see people becoming engaged in the process.”
Just scroll down - it's on the left hand side at the bottom.