The company said that spurious claims that wind farms cause a drop in the value of adjacent properties were being made on a regular basis by a small group of anti-wind campaigners in the Midlands.
"There is no peer-reviewed research which definitively states that wind turbines have a negative impact on property prices. It was very interesting to see the British Advertising Standards Authority move to ban claims that wind farms depress property prices last month," said CEO of Element Power Ireland, Tim Cowhig.
Anti-wind campaigners in Wiltshire in the UK were banned from distributing leaflets stating that 'home values will fall' by the British advertising watchdog. In a potentially significant ruling for other wind farm campaigns, the ASA ruled on July 24th last that it was misleading to state house prices would fall when the local wind farm was built.
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In its ruling, the ASA stated: "we considered that the claim 'house prices will fall' was a strong and absolute claim and we expected to see robust documentary evidence to show that property prices in the local area would be reduced as a direct result of the wind farm development."
The watchdog dismissed evidence provided by the campaigners, including comments from a local estate agent, which had been provided after the leaflet was written and did not state that any property had fallen in value. It also noted that the current guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors gives no definitive answer on the question of whether or not wind farms affect property prices.
"I think the ruling by the ASA sets a precedent that false and mischievous claims about wind energy are not going to go unchallenged. Our company is committed to providing factual peer-reviewed information and that is what we have been doing through our public information days in Counties Kildare, Laois, Meath, Offaly and Westmeath.
"Some people may not like or agree with the information we are providing. However, they shouldn’t try to mislead, confuse or muddy the waters by peddling information which is factually incorrect. Minister Pat Rabbitte summarised the issue best on local radio last week when he said the concerns which were being whipped up and preyed on by anti-wind campaigners were 'entirely unfounded' and amounted to 'unnecessary fear'," concluded Mr Cowhig.
(CD/JP)
