Ad watchdog slams "misleading" anti-wind farm campaign

An anti-wind farm campaign targeting Scottish Power's proposals for an 11.5MW wind farm near Lenchwick in Worcestershire was slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week for misleading readers of its newsletter.

The newsletter from the Vale Villages Against Scottish Power (VVASP), which is campaigning against the proposed five-turbine development, presented a series of "facts" about the project, stating that it would "change the landscape forever", could cause " depression, sleep deprivation, headaches and memory loss", and could reduce house prices for properties within a one mile radius by as much as 54 per cent.

The newsletter prompted a complaint that questioned whether any of the three central allegations could be substantiated.

The complaint was fully upheld by the ASA, which ruled the newsletter was " misleading" and should not be distributed in its current form.

The VVASP had defended the newsletter, arguing that wind farms were part of a long-term energy strategy and as such it was fair to assume that any new wind farms would "to all intents and purposes" be in place "forever".

It also cited controversial research from American doctor Nina Pierpoint and a study from the Leicester Sleep Disorders Service as evidence that wind turbines could have an impact on health, and said the statement that wind farms could drive down house prices by up to 54 per cent was a direct quote from a 2007 joint report by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Oxford Brookes University.

However, in its adjudication the ASA dismissed almost every aspect of the VVASP defence, ruling that the statements in the newsletter were misleading and could not be substantiated.

The watchdog said it had not seen any evidence demonstrating that the proposed wind farm at Lenchwick would change the landscape forever, and as a result the claim should have been worded more conditionally.

It also ruled Pierpoint's research into so-called Wind Turbine Syndrome was based on "anecdotal evidence", and that the quality of the research in the 2009 study from the Leicester Sleep Disorders Service was "low" and faced methodological limitations, including "very small numbers of respondents, dependence on self-completed questionnaires, no use of a control group, the lack of pre-exposure data and the fact that the research was initiated after the turbines had been operating and in response to complaints".

As a result, the ASA concluded that "the reported research was not robust enough to support the claim in the ad".

Perhaps most damningly, the watchdog also ruled that the claim about house prices was misleading.

It said that while the assertion that house prices could fall 54 per cent was included in the RICS report, the study categorically stated that it was based on limited data and that "a cautious approach" should be taken with regards to any link between wind farms and house prices.

In fact, the report said local estate agents operating in the study area where house prices had fallen believed "proximity to a wind farm was simply not an issue [and] that the properties close to one of the wind farms... were in fact ex-Ministry of Defence properties, and so less desirable than other similar properties".

In a statement on its web site, the VVASP said that it was "extremely disappointed with the ASA's ruling and strongly disagrees with its decisions, believing we took all reasonable precautions to justify our claims".

It vowed to continue to "fight the proposed Lenchwick wind farm and keep residents informed of any relevant information".