Does tourism suffer from windfarms - yes it does!
Last year the Scottish government published a highly questionable bit of research that claimed the presence of wind turbines had little effect on tourism. That paper was quickly challenged by my good friends at Wilderness Scotland, one of the country’s finest trekking companies. A survey they had conducted earlier came to very different conclusions, suggesting that many people wouldn’t return to an area where windfarms had been constructed.
Earlier this week I was shown a letter from a woman, Jane Kershaw, who operates a camping and caravan park near Skipton in Yorkshire. Some time ago a small 8-turbine windfarm was constructed on Knabs Ridge, fairly close to her business. Almost immediately, she began to lose trade.
“This park has been in the family ownership for 28 years and throughout that time, until the wind farm was operating, the number of vacant pitches each season has been on average eight. (The park has 159 static pitches and 57 touring pitches, which are normally let on a season basis),” she said
“We began dramatically losing customers once the wind farm became operational. (i.e. customers began moving their static and touring vans to other parks). This was most evident from end of season i.e. November 07. At the beginning of this season (April, 2009) we had 40 empty static pitches and 15 empty touring pitches.”
When customers asked why they were leaving the majority said it was because of the windfarm. The message was apparently loud and clear.
Ms Kershaw also said that when potential holiday home buyers come to view the park they are now immediately put off by the proximity of the windfarm. There are apparently no other reasons why trade should fall off so dramatically - pitch rentals have not increased dramatically; other parks in the vicinity of Harrogate, that were well away from the wind farm have enjoyed a very good year; the rules of the park have not changed.
Put into hard financial terms the effect of this windfarm have been a disaster for this holiday park owner. She has lost £91,360 in pitch fee income, plus trading, plus caravan sales. That comes to approx £400,000, and for the last two seasons she have not sold a new holiday home. Before the windfarm appeared she normally sold at least ten a year .
Ms Kershaw went on to say: “The Inquiry Inspector, in his report on the Knabs Ridge proposal, assured us all that tourist businesses would be unaffected by the turbines and we are most upset that we have now been left in this position. Harrogate Council has received many complaints about the noise of the turbines. A noise monitor was erected in an adjacent field, some way from the caravans, and a report was produced that claimed no problem. More work is being commissioned.
“I understand that in many other European countries large turbines must be sited at least 2 km away from properties. Had this been the case here, our business would not be suffering as it is now.”