Biggest wind power project is blown off course as residents fight back

Martin Bellis dries himself off with his towel and gives a wry smile when asked if he is not just another Nimby objector looking after his own patch of beach against the potential encroachment of a wind farm near Faversham, Kent. “No, I’m really not. I am a supporter of clean energy and really care for the environment,” he said.

“I just happen to think wind is a bit of a white elephant because it’s so inefficient and I cannot understand why anyone would choose one of the best bird sanctuaries in Europe as a site.”

Mr Bellis, 67, has just emerged from a dip in the Thames estuary, where a cable from offshore turbines is to be placed. Behind him lies the land where Shell and its partner, E.ON, want to construct an electricity sub-station to process the offshore power and prepare it for the national grid.

The bather is just one of many local residents who are vehemently opposed to the London Array project in Kent. And so far they have managed to block what the operators believe is a proposed development of national importance.

The Guardian