ANYONE reading the Echo would be forgiven for thinking the argument about wind farms is an entirely one-sided – and negative – one.

In fact there are many reasons why we need to invest in renewable energy and also many Echo readers who support the proposal for Dorset’s offshore wind farm.

They include the West and South Dorset Green Party, which have written to David Cameron urging him to support the plans.

Dorset’s offshore wind farm could produce enough electricity to light up three quarters of a million homes. More importantly, it could do this in a way that’s cheap, clean, safe, and renewable.

If there’s to be a sensible debate, then the melodramatic claims that the wind farm will cost jobs and ruin Dorset’s tourist industry should be challenged.

The wind farm should create, not destroy, thousands of skilled jobs in Dorset.

And there is actually no persuasive evidence, when they’ve been built elsewhere, that offshore wind farms deter tourists. In fact, in some cases they’ve become a tourist attraction.

Echo readers should be a lot more worried about the prospect of fracking licences in their backyard than by wind turbines nine to 12 miles offshore.

If we do not invest in renewable energy the alternative is fossil fuels. One of the very first things this government did was to announce plans to make it harder for local communities to object to test drilling by fracking companies.

The real threat to the Jurassic Coast, and the coastal communities living along it, comes from rising sea levels and global warming driven by fossil fuel operations like fracking.

The wind farm is not the problem. It is part of the solution.

Daragh Croxson

West and South Dorset Green Party