KEY POINTS:
I wouldn't be all that thrilled if a rubbish dump was sited near my home. Nor would I like to live under whopping great electric power lines. A prison? Well, in terms of aesthetics it wouldn't be much chop having a great grey monolith sited outside your window. But what is the objection to wind farms?
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all that, but I think those wind turbines look spectacular and I honestly wouldn't mind the People's Republic of Grey Lynn being liberally sprinkled with turbines. And yet the residents of Makara, a God-forsaken strip of windlashed stone and rubble that Wellingtonians laughingly call a beach, are dead against a wind farm being built in their backyard because they say it will spoil the beauty of the area.
I've been to Makara. Believe me. Nothing could make it look worse. And now the Horizons Regional Council wants controls on the development of wind farms in the district and some local residents are campaigning vigorously to stop any further construction of the power generation projects.
Admittedly, I haven't spent any length of time living near the things. I've only walked around them, and flown through them in a helicopter. But I didn't find the noise disturbing and really, for man-made objects, they look splendid.
Are we so used to objecting to every change, advance or development that people are putting up a fuss out of habit? Or are there some unpleasant facts about wind farms I have yet to uncover?
