IT is alarming that City of York Council officers are opposing the erection of two wind turbines at Escrick Park (February 5).

Escrick Park is six miles south of the historic centre of York. When I travel south of York towards Doncaster the most striking thing about the landscape is the number of power stations, each releasing huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

I find it difficult to see how this proposal of two wind turbines is so offensive to York city planners.

Underneath your article about the two turbines, you had a feature about the Lord Mayor giving gifts of umbrellas to people in Ghana.

Given that York has suffered recent major flooding, and that the effects of climate change are predicted to get worse unless we take urgent action, I wonder whether the Lord Mayor would be better off handing out the umbrellas to people in York instead.

Wind energy is now the most effective alternative to fossil fuel energy. If something better comes along, turbines can easily be dismantled, leaving no long-term impact.

The same cannot be said for climate-changing fossil fuels, or radioactive waste from nuclear power.

Peter Sanderson,

Spokesman, York Green Party,

Wellington Street, York.

Updated: 09:33 Friday, February 11, 2005