Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust

Professor Bellamy, patron of the Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust, took a helicopter trip to the Makara coast, before he left the capital.

He joined trustee Hugh Barr at the WW II Gun Emplacements on Wellington’s spectacular South West Coast.

Professor Bellamy was clear about any tourism potential for Meridian’s proposal at Makara; in his experience he said, “ hills covered with massive wind turbines would never attract tourists or enhance recreation areas in the long term. In Britain a few tourist centres opened initially but they had closed down or gone into receivership; industrial wind turbines are monsters and have no place in treasured landscapes”.

“This outstanding scenery would be industrialised, and the Makara community driven out of their homes, how can this be good for the environment? This is a unique and irreplaceable coastline accessible to city dwellers, the lungs of your city, it should be cherished”

He summed up by saying, “You have far better options.”

He asked if it was now compulsory to put solar water heating in all new buildings in New Zealand, and if not why not?

Professor Bellamy noted that New Zealand consumes more power per head of population than most other Western countries in the world; so reducing consumption and energy efficiency measures would reduce CO2 emissions considerably as overall fewer power plants would need to be built.

He said, if New Zealand wants to harness wind power then it must think very carefully about suitable placement. In his opinion the Makara site is not the right place.

He said, “New Zealand is a windy country, you have plenty of choices”.

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