South West MEP Ashley Fox
The Navitus Bay project will ‘desecrate’ Dorset’s Jurassic Coast and do ‘irreparable’ damage to an economy dependent on tourism.
South West MEP and Leader of the Conservative Group in the European Parliament, Ashley Fox, is urging the government to refuse permission for the Navitus Bay wind farm.
The planning application will now be decided by the Secretary of State.
Mr Fox has written to the Energy Secretary urging refusal and will tomorrow (Friday 19 June) be in Bournemouth to meet with council leaders, the Challenge Navitus Group and Bournemouth tourism officials.
“The Dorset Jurassic coast is the only natural UNESCO world heritage site in England and must be protected. It supports 45,000 jobs and adds £700million a year to the local economy,” said Mr Fox.
“We have an economy dependent on tourism and this wind farm will do irreparable damage, it will desecrate the coast and even threaten the world heritage status it enjoys.”
UNESCO has commented that the “potential impacts” from Navitus Bay on the Jurassic Coast were “in contradiction” to the “overarching principle of the World Heritage Convention,” which stipulates that a world heritage site should be transmitted intact and unchanged to future generations.
“In other parts of the world, development exclusion zones have been introduced to protect similar assets, and I believe that this should be the case here,” concluded Mr Fox.
