The National Trust. The guardian of thousands of historic houses, National Parks and all things to do with the heritage of the “Green and Pleasant Land” as William Blake called England. I am a member, so are many people in Britain and abroad. But having looked through their website pages, and scoured their executive council minutes for the last year, I see nothing recent about their attitude towards wind power or fracking except that their official stance in the past has been anti-fracking.
Yet Dame Helen Ghosh, the National Trust’s director general, says she has an ‘open mind’ to having shale gas wells fracking on its land, but said it was unlikely she would ever allow a windfarm. She told The Times newspaper:
“I think it is unlikely that we would ever promote or allow a wind farm on our land”. “I’m not saying we will never allow fracking on our land”.
Who does she think she is? Has she consulted me? Has she consulted all the other members of the National Trust? If I had a historic home and was thinking of gifting it to the nation through the National Trust, I would much prefer a 2.5gw turbine turning slowly in the wind at the back of the car park, rather than run the risk of the foundations being shattered by a mini-earthquake cause by allowing fracking nearby. I thought the NT had impeccable green credentials, but to favour fracking over wind power just shows how ignorant and arrogant Dame Ghosh is. Why not ask members what their opinion is?
Unless there is an immediate retraction, I think Ghost’s position is untennable; she should frack off!
