I myself am a professional environmental campaigner and am proud to include Novera Energy as one of my clients, especially because of the transparent and enthusiastic commitment to renewable energy from all of their staff and their genuine willingness to openly engage with local residents.

The Todd Hill proposal is at a very early stage and the exhibition at Morpeth was more of a consultation exercise than a fully fledged illustration of hard and fast plans. Indeed, the type of information your correspondent was asking for would have been putting the cart before the horse.

I feel certain that once local residents' concerns and comments have been thoroughly reviewed, Novera Energy will provide far more detailed information at a later exhibition.

I would also like to comment on a couple of points of detail. The notion of noise pollution is generally grossly exaggerated, and there is strict planning guidance that developers are obligated to satisfy (ETSU-R-97) in order to safeguard people's tranquillity. Myths so easily take root when unsubstantiated comments start to do the rounds, and the allegation about wind turbines (up to 430ft) being the tallest buildings in the UK outside London is one of the latest in vogue.
Manchester alone has many buildings taller than this: the Beetham tower, for example, is 554ft. More pertinently, there are many masts and chimneys within rural areas around the country which dwarf wind turbines. At 850ft, the Drax power station chimney in picturesque North Yorkshire is nearly twice as high.

I have no wish to be unkind, but so far as obscuring the facts is concerned the boot appears to be on the other foot. The wind farm proposal needs to be judged on its merits, locally, regionally and nationally. This will involve a willingness to look beyond some of the common misconceptions and hand-me-down aspersions about wind turbines.

If there is to be opposition to the scheme, then let it be for verifiable and legitimate reasons — not for pejoratively inaccurate ones.

JOHN EVERETT
Durham City