If you visit the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff Bay or one of its regional offices in Llandrindod or Merthyr Tydfil you will be told about how sustainability is written into the constitution, setting a precedent for other elected polities. To be applauded? Of course! And yet despite this excellent commitment to a harmonious future the reality on the ground is somewhat different.
There is a list of very unsustainable projects such as Ffos-Y-Fran opencast mine, Wyfla nuclear power station,a proposed M4 Relief Road and now a proposed airport in the Severn Estuary which cannot be reconciled with any sort of sustainabilty, that have either gone ahead or will go ahead, pending planning permission or 'consultations' which tend to back up what the WAG has already decided (or are quietly ignored).Wales is beginning to benefit from windfarms but we have the bizarre situation whereby a technology supported by 67% of the population which has yet to harm anyone is being endlessly subjected to enquiries, vetos and frankly ridiculous claims about its safety and yet fracking - a toxic use of fossil fuel if ever there was is effectively waved through with little or no comment from the political parties elected to the Welsh Assembly.
The sad thing is that a sustainable Wales is perfectly possible. As far energy is concerned tidal lagoons located at strategic points around the coastline will provide back up to the turbines and solar panels and thus Wales can generate the energy it needs and can export any surplus for a profit. It should be noted that every turbine has 50,000 moving parts, so the Green Collar economy created by building and maintaining these alone would help solve both climate change and unemployment and that's before we even get to reversing Dr Beeching and dealing with energy efficiency. So let's stick to the constitution and keep things sustainable. The Assembly is often lambasted in Welsh as a 'Siarad Siop' (talking shop) so this is could be the way it finally proves itself to the world and the electorate:by being truly sustainable and successful rather than just the UK's dumping ground for failed fossil fuel technology.
Nigel Baker
Comments