Speak freely - but not too loudly

It is pleasing to note that some semblance of sanity has been restored to the debate over the merits and demerits of wind farms.

It was a small but significant breakthrough in a David and Goliath battle between two parish councils in Northumberland and the late, but little lamented, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Officials in Westminster yesterday confirmed that councillors are actually free to speak out on the issue.

That, in our long cherished democracy, may seem like no kind of advance at all but in the "Alice and Wonderland" world of wind farms, sadly it is.

Belford Parish Council had been warned not to debate a highly-sensitive wind farm application because members had previously opposed plans at another site.

At the same time David Griggs, chairman of Ellingham Parish Council, revealed he had also been barred from debating the issue because he spoke out in favour of a development.

It was an issue, apparently, of "pre-determined" views.

This argument might have held just a little water but for the involvement of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which - many believe - has the market cornered in "pre-determined" views on wind farms.

Yesterday the ODPM - in its rebranded Department for Communities and Local Government form - finally put the matter to rest.

Parish councillors do have a right to speak their mind.

While one welcomes this principle, it is hard to get too excited given the fact that it is something everyone should be able to take for granted in this country.

It is also a fact that - as the lowest rung on the local government ladder - parish councils were only ever going to be able to express a view anyway.

Such are the regulations covering wind farm developments that the major planing decisions will bypass even town and county councils.

Anything over 20-25 turbines have to be automatically referred to the Trade and Industry Secretary for determination.

Still, it is nice to know that free speech still matters in this country - even if the planning system can stillturn it into so much hot air.

It's the end of the queue

The hospital trust which put 5,000 patients into a "queue" undefined which was separate from its "waiting list" undefined be has been urged by a watchdog group to more open.

Sunderland Royal Hospital, which has always denied any wrongdoing, has been urged by the Healthcare Commission to do things differently in future.

Without getting into the technical difference between a "queue" and a "waiting list" again we would endorse the Commission's call for Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust to be clearer with its terminology.

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