BEFORE the wind park proposal has been finalised and its impact studies have been published, Monday’s Opinion piece rules that Navitus Bay is “too big a risk” and “a gamble we cannot afford to take”.

Offshore wind is potentially a major source of renewable energy for the UK. It’s effectiveness will be maximised when there is a wide geographical distribution of sites, as the wind is almost always blowing somewhere around the coasts of Britain.

Offshore wind farms are less visually intrusive and have less of an impact on tourism than onshore ones.

And we need, urgently, to make the shift from fossil fuels to renewables if we are to have any hope of avoiding damaging rises in global temperatures.

As a coastal county, Dorset is particularly vulnerable to the rising sea levels and increased frequency and intensity of storms that are two of the main consequences of unchecked climate change.

I would suggest that not playing our part in the necessary shift away from fossil fuels would be a much greater risk to our well-being than going ahead with this major renewable energy project.

But whether we are for or against Navitus Bay, doing nothing is surely the main gamble we cannot afford to take.

ALAN NEALE, Poole