'Don't dismiss wind critics as Nimbies' - study.

DISMISSING people who oppose renewable schemes such as wind farms in their area as "Nimbies" is counterproductive and could damage public support for clean energy, researchers warned yesterday.

A study found only 2% of more than 3,000 people questioned about nearby renewable schemes fell into the "not in my backyard" (nimby) category of strongly supporting low-carbon power in general but opposing their local project.

There was substantial support among residents for renewable energy, both gen-eralland in the local area, but it could be "fragile" - particularly in the case of onshore wind farms and biomass, lead researcher Dr Patrick Devine-Wright from the University of Manchester said.

The researchers urged the Government and developers to address the legitimate concerns people had about the impacts and delivery of renewable schemes, to ensure targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions from energy are met.

The study follows the publication of the Government's renewable energy strategy which lays out plans for thou-sandof onshore and offshore wind turbines around the country by 2020.

But Vestas, the owners of a wind turbine factory in the Isle of Wight which is due to close this week, has warned local planning processes are holding up the development of a favourable onshore wind market in the UK.

One of the researchers, Professor Gordon Walker of Lancaster University, said: "Just calling protesters 'Nimbies' and suggesting, as Ed Miliband recently did, that it should be socially unacceptable to oppose wind turbines, is just counter-productive. People have a democratic right to express their views, to scrutinise development proposals and to argue their case."

The researchers examined local attitudes to 10 renewable schemes, including onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass generators and marine projects.

Overall, around two-fifths (38.1%) of local residents polled were supportive of the scheme near them. However, some types of scheme were more controversial than others, with onshore wind getting the least backing.