HAVING been privileged to be Bournemouth council leader during the 1990s, one of the many things I think I learned was to become better at spotting the tactics and arguments of the NIMBYs (not in my backyard) but also the more negative and dangerous NOTEs (not over there either).

So, when approached by an anti-wind farm campaigner outside our beach hut a couple of weeks ago, I must admit I did slip into Meldrewesque mode.

I was presented with a sketch showing a line of wind turbines stretching from Old Harry to the Needles.

I suggested my estimate that the size of the turbine impact pictured made them more like six miles offshore than 13 and they were in the wrong place.

However, whilst delivering a definite ‘no’ to a signature on his petition, I did thank the gentleman for at least helping to promote a debate on a key issue for all us inhabitants of the globe – how do we satisfy our apparent ever increasing demand for energy with ever reducing acceptable sources of energy?

I have been really delighted to see how my grandchildren, encouraged by schoolteachers, the internet and children’s TV, are far more aware and sensitive of these issues than were the majority of my own and previous generations.

Really disappointing, then, to see MPs, council leaders and the media continue to preach the simplistic message: There shall be no wind turbines off Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch lest, on a very clear day, they might be visible on a part of the horizon.

Come on guys – surely the youngsters to whom, sooner or later, we shall be assigning the lease of this planet deserve better? A bit of Nimbyism is in us all, very human, and I do acknowledge that the lobby so far has achieved a result in moving the proposals just that bit further offshore.

However, proposing a ‘no’ to anything sounds to me far more a NOTE approach.

Our local leaders must, at least, be responsible by setting out how they see the energy gap being dealt with. If not wind power, then are they promoting wave power, more offshore oil exploration, nuclear power, coal, shale fracking or what?

For me, the potential contribution of the windfarm to bridging the energy and environmental gap exceeds the marginal inconvenience of an occasionally blurred horizon.

I know it’s not easy to balance – but please let us, as residents in this lovely place, not just don’t pretend it’s a problem for the rest of the world to sort out.

ALDERMAN DOUGLAS EYRE, Kirby Way, Southbourne