Conservation group chief quits after describing his wind turbine as a 'thing

November 16:

Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE has quit his role on the conservation group

A celebrated explorer has quit his presidency of a Cornish conservation group - because of his support for wind turbines.

Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE, 78, has headed the Camel Valley and Bodmin Moor Protection Society in Cornwall for 40 years.

But he caused outrage among members after describing a turbine erected on his own 2,000 acre farm as a "thing of beauty".

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph in October, he also called on farmers to consider "appropriately placed" windmills on their land.

But it quickly became clear that his views were "out of step" with the majority of members of the group and he decided to step down.

He said: "While I believe that wind turbines and PV arrays which create inappropriate intrusions in the landscape should be strongly opposed, I also believe that we need to generate more clean renewable energy in order to wean ourselves from fossil fuels.

"I recognise that this puts me out of step with a majority of current members of the society, but I believe they are wrong.

"A blind opposition to all forms of renewable energy and denial of climate change is a dangerous path to follow."

Mr Hanbury-Tenison has taken part in some 30 expeditions in the last 50 years and was described as "the greatest explorer of the past 20 years" by the Sunday Times in 1982.

Among his achievements he was the first person to travel overland from London to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1957.

He completed the first land crossing of South America at its widest point in 1958, followed in 1964-65 by the first river crossing of South America from north to south.

In 1969 he founded the group Survival International and shortly afterwards set up the Camel Valley and Bodmin Moor Protection Society.

But Mr Hanbury-Tenison, who lives at Cardinham, near Bodmin, has won few friends within the organisation for his views on renewable energy.

In his letter printed in the Daily Telegraph on October 13, he wrote: "I have a well-placed 15kWh wind turbine, to which no one objected and which I regard as a thing of beauty.

"With the 50kwh generated by my modest array of solar panels, I generate enough electricity for 33 average households, which is fed into the grid.

"I also drive a fully electric car. If every farmer with a suitable site did the same, we could approach electrical independence without any capital investment from the Government.

"The countryside would look much as it did in the Middle Ages, when every village had a windmill."

There was such backlash to his views at a recent meeting of the society that he had no choice but to resign, he says.

Chairman Richard Vyvyan-Robinson said Mr Hanbury-Tenison's views were "clearly at odds with the objectives of the society".

He added; "The society does not have a 'blind opposition to all forms of renewable energy', is not unenlightened, and does not believe that change is always a bad thing.

"But Robin's Daily Telegraph letter is clearly at odds with the objectives of the society and, whilst some of our members will hold differing points of view, a president who broadcasts such opinions makes the work of objecting to inappropriate developments all the more difficult.

"Recommending that every farmer should have one was a suggestion too far."

Mr Vyvan-Robinson, who praised the outgoing president for his many years of "invaluable" service, said a new incumbent would be chosen through a ballot of members at the next AGM.

Source: www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Conservation-group-chief-quits-describing-wind/story-24541779-detail/story.html