PRESS RELEASE

MERRY CHRISTMAS- 77% of CHARTERED SURVEYORS SAY PROPERTY VALUES LIKELY TO FALL DUE TO WIND FARMS

In September and October 2004, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors [“RICS”], the leading independent body concerning issues relating to property and land in the UK, surveyed those of its members concerning the potential impact of wind farms on property values.

The RICS state

“The purpose of the study[ is] not to endorse or criticize wind technology, but rather to gauge professional property opinion about its impact on both residential property and agricultural land values….

The study focused on those responses from surveyors with experiences of transactions affected by wind farms, analysing the data at both national and regional levels. ”

Very few such studies have been undertaken anywhere else in the world, and it may therefore be seen as one of the most definitive studies available at the current time.

The results were summarised by the RICS as follows:

This shows, on average, that 60% of Chartered Surveyors with experience of house transactions near to wind farms report that they negatively impact house prices. In the South-West this rises to a high of 77%!

A spokesman for KNOll to Windfarm, says

“The findings are clear to us….. property values are likely to fall as a result of the proposed commercial wind development at Inner Farm.

What is particularly worrying to us is that many wind farms in the UK are located in areas where there are relatively few residential properties, not close to towns and villages such as Burnhan and Brent Knoll where there are far more properties to be affected.

The big question for the residents of Burnham-on-Sea, Brent Knoll, and their surrounds must surely therefore be

· Not whether values will fall, but by how much?”

For further information please contact

Andrew Manning of “KNOll to Windfarm” on 07765 896781 or

James Rebbeck on 0207 334 3740 / 07786 177 165 jrebbeck@rics.org or Sarah McShane on 0207 695 1720 smcshane@rics.org or Milan Khatri on 0207 334 3774 mkhatri@rics.org at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.