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Sustainable Landscapes Should be the First Principle of Energy Generation Says LI President

14th July 2006

Landscape Institute President Nigel Thorne criticised the Government’s energy review this week as ‘at best full of contradictions and leaving a lot to be desired.’

“References to nuclear energy as ‘clean energy’ are truly misleading”, said Mr Thorne. “When calculating energy costs we need to factor in the costs to our landscapes and embracing nuclear so positively clearly leaves a huge amount out of the picture.

“Renewable energy generation in the landscape can be dismantled and discontinued without long term damage. Nuclear’s legacy in the landscape is there for generations to come. Landscapes cannot be exploited to feed growing energy demands without paying a price and our energy needs should be seen in this context – other parts of government policy show signs of considering landscape issues more comprehensively, yet on energy the old approach of generating fuel whatever the detrimental impact seems to endure. Sustainability should be the first principle and nuclear leaves a lot to be desired on that score.

“There is so much more to be done on reducing energy use and demand - by investment in retro-fitting our built environment and working on local solutions to the energy equations for instance - before we embark on another generation of large scale, far-reaching exploitation of our landscape for fuel, whatever the method of generation. It is not acceptable to manipulate planning restrictions or to impose new standards only on new build to fix our energy cravings.”

Source: Landscape Institute