“We’re building windfarms to stop carbon emissions — by disturbing our best carbon store. It’s Kafkaesque.”
— Dr Richard Lindsay
A Saudi-backed consortium wants to build one of the largest onshore windfarms in England. The proposed site? Walshaw Moor — a vast, windswept peatland above Hebden Bridge.
On paper, it looks like progress. Clean energy. Thousands of homes powered. Carbon saved.
What if disturbing that bog not only destroys a rare habitat, but releases more ancient carbon into the atmosphere than the proposed development will save?
In the next episode of Calderdale Inside Out, I sit down with Dr Richard Lindsay, one of the world’s leading peatland experts, who has spent over four decades advising governments, the UN, and conservation agencies across the world.
His conclusion is blunt: building windfarms on deep peat may be undermining the very climate goals they’re supposed to serve.
In this conversation, we explore:
What peat actually is — and why it's “the failed compost heap that saves the planet”
How roads and drainage destabilise bogs for centuries
The hidden risk of peat slides — including one in Ireland so big it led to EU court action
How developers are being paid record amounts when turbines are switched off — even when it’s too windy to run them
And could building a wind farm on Walshaw moor increase the Calder Valley flood risk
This isn’t just a niche environmental debate. It’s a larger question about how we do climate action — and whether we’re prepared to sacrifice one environmental asset in pursuit of another.
“Once the roads go in, they’re in forever,” Dr Lindsay warns. “You can remove the turbines. You can’t remove the damage.”
HOW TO LISTEN
This exclusive interview will be landing later this week.
The episode will be available only to subscribers of Calderdale Inside Out — and it’s free to subscribe.
If you care about the climate, about the uplands, or about how decisions are being made — this is a conversation worth hearing.
