I’m puzzled by Cllr Mike Greene’s assertion, repeated in his letter February 13, that 34 per cent of visitors to Bournemouth say they won’t return if the Navitus Bay wind farm goes ahead.

He has said before that his figure comes from visitor surveys carried out by Navitus Bay Development Limited.

According to these surveys, 20 per cent of summer visitors indicated that they wouldn’t return during the construction phase, and 14 per cent that they wouldn’t return subsequently – that’s 20 per cent, falling to 14 per cent after three years, not rising to 34 per cent.

For spring visitors, the proportions are lower.

An important finding in the Glasgow Caledonian University report for the Scottish Government in 2008 on ‘The economic impact of wind farms on Scottish Tourism’ was that “respondents that had seen a wind farm were less hostile than those who had not”.

This suggests that there may be a ‘protest vote’ bias in intention surveys such as those carried out by NBDL, which exaggerates the actual impact.

This is borne out by actual experience with offshore wind farm development elsewhere in England, where tourism has not been significantly affected.

The NBDL survey of summer visitors was carried out in 2012, when the nearest turbine was to be 10 miles away from Bournemouth beach. It’s now to be 13 miles away. Yet Cllr Greene persists with his 34 per cent figure, for which there seems to be no foundation.

Alan Neale,

Poole