Blowing open uneven contest

The Stop Swinford Wind Farm Action Group is a small group of local residents who don't want to see their lives, their homes and their villages blighted by wind turbines.

They have been surprised by the emergence of a new pro-wind farm group, calling itself ProWA. This group has appeared from nowhere, and bears investigation. It has the enthusiastic backing of Friends of the Earth – their website speaks of "crucial support from Leicester Friends of the Earth", and the local group looks more like a ready-made, off-the shelf lobbying exercise, rather than a spontaneous group of concerned local people.

It would be good to know how much of the funding behind ProWA comes from Friends of the Earth. I also suspected that the wind-farm company Nuon may also be involved and I now have evidence that this is the case.

The following appeared in the Leicester FoE May newsletter:

"As is often the case with proposed wind farms, a 'No' campaign is brewing, so the project may need our support if it is going to be carried out. Nuon Renewables have approached Leicester FoE to see if we can work together on this."

It is galling for a genuine local activist movement, campaigning for their local area to be up against an organised and well-funded campaign backed by vested interests – especially when this is backed by EU money, which every tax-payer is contributing, whether we like it or not.

Roger Helmer, Conservative MEP.