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Nuon lodged 10 complaints with the ASA (Advertising
Standards Authority) against SSWFAG for content contained in
our newsletters and posters. The ASA initially told the
SSWFAG that they were upholding eight out of the ten.
However, when the final verdict came through they upheld all
10 (You can bet Nuon worked very hard to get those
converted).
While we cannot compete with Nuon’s financial muscle and
clout and their well tested battle tactics, we will still
endeavour to carry on and have our say – and not be bullied
into silence or defeat.
For us this is purely a case of campaigning for what we
believe in and to stop the blight of our village and the
surrounding homes.
This kind of tactic appears to be standard procedure across
the country by Nuon and companies like it, and as much as we
respect the ASA in the ‘arena’ in which they are meant to
operate, their rulings really have no place here.
We only hope that other villages which could be affected by
wind farm developments do not roll over and let it happen
believing it to be a ‘fait accompli’ that they will be
unable to successfully win.
While we will not pick through every single point raised by
Nuon and upheld by the ASA, here are a few that we feel do
need some comment:
1.
The ASA has stated that we can’t substantiate that houses
prices will fall if a wind farm is built next to us. Well,
ask yourself this one simple question: “Would you want to
buy a house close to a wind farm? And if you did, would you
pay as much for one as another without a wind turbine close
by?
2. In another ruling, the ASA says that we cannot
claim that a wind turbine may put your health at risk. Well,
the word
‘risk’
does not imply certainty, but it does appear to be a
possible factor in increased cases of asthma and epilepsy in
areas from Cumbria down to North Wales and Cornwall where
wind farms exist.
Our statement to the press will be as follows:
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SSWFAG is disappointed by the ASA verdict.
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SSWFAG did not – and still does not – believe we
mislead.
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It should be noted that ASA executives had originally
recommended that 2 of the complaints were not justified.
What lobbying of the ASA Council caused the change?
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SSWFAG intends to honour the ASA requirement –
(which basically means we need to take the photograph
off the posters around the village. Therefore we
ask all members to remove from use any A3 posters that
carry this image. All other
newsletters described in the complaints were one-offs
and have never been used since our early campaigning).
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SSWFAG is putting on its web site the entire response to
the complaint, and all evidence
provided to, but not
recognised by, the ASA, rather than just the
extracts that may be published elsewhere.
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The public is invited to review this and form their own
opinion via SSWFAG.org.uk
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SSWFAG now considers this matter closed.
No other comments.
Notes:
This verdict relates to the complaint Nuon submitted back in
June of this year, which was extensively publicised by Nuon
in the press.
The ASA findings will be published on their website:
www.asa.org.uk on Wednesday 3rd December
2008.
Full details of our response to the ASA can be found through
the links on the left hand side of this page.
Click here to email us
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