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Mr. Charles Kennedy: This is flannel.

Mr. Kynoch: The hon. Gentleman speaks about flannel. We believe in partnership but, unfortunately,

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the hon. Gentleman believes in the state taking over ownership, which is why he is so closely allied to the Labour party. As we all know, the Liberal Democrat party is in bed with the Labour party but its members do not like saying that in parts of Scotland, because it would be electorally disadvantageous.

The White Paper contained more than 25 commitments to action, ranging from new research on rural schools and rural crime to the publication of a discussion paper on the coast and planning guidance for small towns. It also contained three linked proposals for a framework for rural development in Scotland and a system that would help local people to take action on their own behalf. The White Paper consists of three main elements. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) should listen, because the White Paper deals with partnership.

The document consists of three elements. First, it proposes the establishment of local, rural partnerships, drawing together the main bodies that operate in a particular area and including the local residents. Secondly, it proposes a national, rural partnership to provide advice on good practice to local groups--a process that could benefit the people of Eigg. Thirdly, and most importantly, the White Paper contains proposals for a new Scottish rural partnership fund totalling £2.5 million and additional resources to help local partnerships to become established and to help local projects.

A new rural challenge fund of £500,000 has been set up, and it is part of the Scottish rural partnership fund. It is now open to local communities to apply for help to fund projects that meet local priority needs. I encourage the residents of Eigg to form a local partnership in conjunction with the local authority and Government agencies, and to submit proposals to the rural challenge fund. The closing date for the first tranche of bids is 15 June. That is the way forward for the residents of Eigg, and we hope to announce the first successful projects in July.

The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber spoke about the funds for the hall and forest and suggested that they should be protected. I understand that the funds for the forestry projects on Eigg remain available and that the only hindrance is the agreement of the landowner. As the hon. Gentleman has flagged up, that is clearly a problem, but I hope that in due course the hurdle can be overcome. Highlands and Islands Enterprise is always ready to consider proposals, and in the past has provided funding for a music festival.

Specific projects should be submitted to that body and, of course, they will be judged on their merits. The hon. Gentleman's speech was full of cynical jibes which, as I have said, are typical of his party, about the Government's commitment to rural Scotland. My right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) contributed much to rural Scotland during his many years as a Scottish Office Minister, and knows exactly what I am talking about.

The Government's commitment to rural Scotland is measured in billions of pounds, and there is evidence that the commitment is working. Employment in rural Scotland increased by 6.5 per cent. in the period 1981-91 compared with an overall Scottish increase of 1.1 per cent. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Moray makes light of that but, of course, the opposition parties do not like hearing success stories. Unfortunately, they thrive on failure, which is why they will never make progress in Scotland.

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The population of rural Scotland increased by about 3.5 per cent. over the same period compared with a Scottish decrease of 1.4 per cent. Long-term unemployment tends to be less severe in rural Scotland. Moreover, rural dwellers feel that the disadvantages that they face are more than balanced by the positive aspects of a clean, safe environment and their sense of belonging to a community.

The Government are doing much to help Scotland's rural communities, which include islands such as Eigg. That is not done by applying restrictive and oppressive controls of the kind that failed so disastrously in eastern Europe and elsewhere and which might be advocated by opposition parties, but by empowering local communities to identify and meet the challenges that they face. The measures in the rural White Paper provide real opportunities to local communities, such as those on the island of Eigg. I recommend that the islanders take full advantage of those opportunities.

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Wind Turbines

1.27 pm

Mr. Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley): I am grateful for the opportunity to open this debate, which is important to my constituency. I am pleased that my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro), my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Sir D. Thompson) and the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Mr. Pickthall), who is extremely interested in wind turbines, are in their places.

Energy consumption is increasing, and it is right for the Government to weigh up the environmental impact on the country of increased demand. They have to fulfil their Rio commitments to reduce harmful greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, and the acidic gases, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are associated with traditional fossil fuel burning.

Sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide damage crops, cause a decline in forests, acidify lakes and damage the soil. Historic buildings and metals are also eroded and, of course, there are the damaging long-term effects on human health. Asthma and bronchitis are examples. We cannot be insensitive to the appalling problems that will face the world if action is not taken to reverse global warming and acid rain.

Faced with increasing energy demands and improved research, which is able to quantify in detail the environmental damage that is caused by fossil fuels, how substantive is the lure of any energy source that offers a menu of safety and cleanliness and which is renewable and natural? Why do I seem to do a rather poor impersonation of Don Quixote by tilting at windmills when I should be embracing them? It was Don Quixote who, on glancing at 30 or 40 windmills on the plain, stated that he was prepared to engage in battle to slay those giants:


He was a few hundred years ahead of his time. If he was to travel around some parts of the country, he would find no shortage of monstrous giants to tilt at.

In 1991, there were 13 wind turbines; today, we have 518. In my constituency, two anemometers are testing the strength of wind power. If it is sufficient, there will no doubt be an application for wind turbines in the Ribble Valley, which is one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Some wind turbines are 100 ft high, and there are proposals for some more than 200 ft high, monotonously pumping iron and producing relatively small amounts of energy at enormous cost to our natural environment by wrecking the peace of rural areas, scarring the countryside and ruining landscapes. As they multiply around the country, they will prove to be a price not worth paying.

The more I investigate wind turbines, the more I am convinced that the Government will take a long, hard look at their efficiency and benefits compared with the massive sacrifice that some parts of the UK have had to make. They will say that enough is enough. I hope that they will reach that conclusion sooner rather than later. As the chairman of the Countryside Commission said at the beginning of the year:


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Seventeen wind energy sites have already been earmarked in or adjacent to sites in the vicinity of national parks. Seven are to be developed on heritage coasts or areas of high landscape value. We are in danger of industrialising some of our most beautiful countryside.

If economic benefit and the efficient production of energy were on the side of the wind argument, cost-benefit analyses would fall more often on the side of the wind factories. However, they do not. According to planning policy guidance 22, the aim of the planning system is to secure economy efficiency and amenity in the use of land in the public interest. That is where wind turbines do not measure up to the hype that surrounds them.

It would take a wind farm the size of the city of Birmingham to produce the same amount of electricity as a modern 1,000 MW nuclear power station. When I learned that, I did not think about the amount of space involved or the raw materials needed to build so many wind turbines, but it made me realise how inefficient wind farms are. There are 518 wind turbines in Britain. To put the matter into context, at 5.10 pm on 29 January this year, UK demand for power was 48,400 MW. The 40 wind farms produced 64 MW of that energy. That gives some idea of how many we would need to have a real impact on our energy supply.

Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North): May I invite the hon. Gentleman to attend meetings of the all-party renewable and sustainable energy group, which discusses such matters regularly and makes it clear that the energy and electricity supplies of the future will depend on relatively small contributions from a range of different renewable resources? Does he accept that the impact of wind energy is as nothing compared to the huge ecological impact of the continued use of fossil fuels--let alone that of the use of nuclear energy?


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