This petition – click here – has passed the 10,000 signature mark and now will get a response from government.
Jenny Shepherd said “It is vital that the Government acts on our message about the importance of protected peatland throughout England. Their drive to speed up construction of big onshore wind farms is all about reaching Net Zero – but peatland restoration is also essential to these efforts. These habitats capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide: up to four times as much as tropical rainforest for instance. So it makes no sense to damage peatlands by building windfarms on them. These areas also enjoy international protection for endangered birds, and have a vital role in mitigating flooding in the valleys and providing good quality water.”
Campaigner Penny Price explained: “Peat is so sensitive to disturbance that even one small vehicle tracking across it can cause damage which can last for years, so imagine what would happen when machinery carrying components weighing hundreds of tonnes has to cross it. The tracks required would act as dams severing different sections of the blanket bog, with seriously adverse effects. Peat grows at a rate of a millimetre per year and some of the peat on Walshaw Moor has been growing since the Bronze Age. Once damaged, it would take just as long to restore it.“
More information on the windfarm proposed for Walshaw Moor can be found in a series of blog posts by Nick MacKinnon and friends – click here.
I find it interesting how a focussed local campaign, on a national issue, can do so well in a small geographic area. Over a third of the signatures come from just two affected constituencies – Calder Valley and Keighley and Ilkley. Imagine what would happen if some large environmental organisations threw some weight behind it too… And why don’t they?
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