THE UK is one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of renewable energy. We’ve pledged to source 15 per cent of our energy from renewables by 2020, but the latest data shows the UK has not even managed half that.

And now Westminster has turned down the wind farm off the Jurassic Coast because there’s a chance that it might just possibly cause a bit of damage to our tourist industry and might endanger our World Heritage status.

There’s absolutely no evidence that the tourists would stay away. It’s pure speculation and scaremongering.

And our natural heritage is in far more serious danger from the effects of climate change than from a few dozen windmills near the horizon.

How ironic that this should be announced on the same day as we read that around 130 jobs in Weymouth are about to go in the Granby.

If it had been approved, the Navitus Bay development could have brought £1.6billion into the economy of the region and generated up to 1,700 jobs.

As Portland was one of the three possible bases for the wind farm project, many of those jobs could have been filled from Weymouth and Portland.

Who wouldn’t fight to secure such an outcome?

Well, our MP wouldn’t.

Richard Drax has never shown any particular interest in environmental matters, but he did profess to be very concerned about employment.

However, in this matter he pledged his full support to the educationally-challenged nimbys in the more prosperous east of the county and turned his back on us completely.

Lynne Crowe Rufus Way, Portland