NORTH-EAST environmentalist Dr David Bellamy is right – “wind farms just don’t work”

(Echo, April 23).

Not one would have been built in the UK if it had been a purely commercial decision; developers rely completely on the subsidy each one of us pays via our inflated electricity bills.

Government figures show that wind farms only generate an average of 27 per cent of their designed output (enough for only 3,100 homes, not the 11,500 stated in your story), and that is intermittent, relying on CO2-producing coal or gas-fired power stations running constantly on standby to provide back-up for when the wind is not blowing at the correct strength.

So, they are neither effective or “green”. I hope, however, Dr Bellamy has other arguments up his sleeve if he is to get Banks Developments’ proposed wind farm near his home on the edge of Hamsterley Forest, rejected.

Councils may not, by law, consider whether a proposed wind farm development will work; they can only consider factors mentioned later in your article, such as noise pollution and the effect on wildlife.

Furthermore, even if Durham County Council refuses permission, all Banks has to do is appeal and the Government will likely approve it. Still, I hope Dr Bellamy does the impossible.

Derek Thornton, Stanley Crook, Co Durham.