As anyone who has read the Western Morning News would agree, this is a highly contentious topic. As with all potential changes to the environment, it is an issue that must be of interest to all tourism operators in Cornwall. In coming up with a policy on wind farms, the Cornwall Tourism Forum has had to be mindful that blanket opposition to all wind farm developments would effectively consign us to become a voice howling in the wilderness, whereas blanket support of wind farms would have been equally not credible. The government has an agenda on wind arms, and in its planning guidelines, states that it expects a presumption in favour of wind farms. As an industry, we have to be aware of this background, and we have consulted with CCC spatial planning officers on this.

Please read the policy on wind farms carefully. We believe that the best way for Cornwalls tourism industry to play its part in slowing global warming will be to look at all energy consumption and reduce the amount of energy we use (it makes economic sense, too). As a last resort, the use of renewable energy generation may have a part to play. However, we want the planners to be mindful of the fact that our environment is our biggest single tourism asset here in Cornwall. If we do not look after it, we risk damaging the biggest industry in our county.