Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Conservative): I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way twice so quickly.

It is instructive that in the Chamber for this important debate there are, at a glance, some 26 coalition Government Members and only two Labour Members-one Whip and the shadow Minister. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is because the visual impact of wind farms is almost exclusively felt in constituencies represented by Conservative and Liberal Democrat Members, but that the constituencies represented by Labour will benefit as they will be using the energy?

Andrea Leadsom: My hon. Friend makes a good point, and I would add to it. The rush to build wind farms under Labour's top-down planning now makes it difficult for Opposition Members to stand on a localism ticket.

...

Mr Gray: Is it not an irony that the windiest places in the UK tend also to be the most remote from the places where the energy is being used? Therefore, the visual impact that my hon. Friend mentioned is doubled because of the necessity to have wires going from the windy place, such as Northumberland, to London where we are actually using the energy.

Andrea Leadsom: My hon. Friend makes a very good point. That will always be the issue-turbines being very close to the grid and therefore on top of a community or being further away from the grid and potentially having an impact through the connectivity issues. That will always be a problem.

Source: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110210/halltext/110210h0001.htm