Trying to prevent a cultural tragedy

The Telegraph and Argus has the latest news about the plans to try and stop a wind farm from taking over the heart of Brontë country.

A new bid has been launched to protect moorland which inspired literary classics and draws visitors from across the world.

Campaigners are pressing for the Brontë moors above Haworth to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

The initiative comes amid growing fears for the future of the world-famous landscape, which includes Top Withens – reputedly the inspiration for the setting of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

A 41-turbine wind farm is planned on the uplands between Brontë Country and Calderdale, which opponents say would be an "ecological disaster" – destroying peatland and threatening already-endangered wildlife – and a "cultural tragedy".

Stronger Together, a coalition of organisations, is fighting the Calderdale Energy Park scheme.

Amongst those campaigning is the Friends of Brontë Country, which is pursuing the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

"Appraising World Heritage Site status is a very demanding process but if developers 'win' the Brontë moors will no longer exist," says a spokesperson.

"Destroying this unique moorland would not only be an ecological disaster, it would be a cultural tragedy.

"This is one of the last places in the world where you can step into the pages of a novel like Wuthering Heights and still find the landscape intact."

The coalition says Walshaw Moor – which stretches from above Haworth towards Hebden Bridge – has protections in place, but that more needs to be done.

A spokesperson says: "Walshaw Moor is designated as both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area due to its rare peatland habitat and red-listed bird species. Yet despite these legal protections, developers are pushing ahead with plans that would see wind turbines erected on this fragile terrain.

"We are urging the public to sign a petition to Parliament, at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/701290, calling for a ban on wind farm development on protected peatland.

"The campaign is also seeking support for amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to strengthen protections for peatland in England.

"We're not anti-renewables, but we must place wind farms in appropriate locations."

The Brontë Society has also pledged its commitment to protecting the moorland.

Rebecca Yorke, director of the society and the Bronte Parsonage Museum, says: "The society has a long-standing interest in the moorland surrounding Haworth, and is committed to its protection.

"The South Pennines is the only upland area in England without national park status, or any other region-wide designation which would ensure its unique ecological habitats and characteristic built heritage are preserved for future generations.

"Top Withens, intrinsically linked to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, was once on the National Heritage List for England. The Brontë Society, in partnership with other concerned parties, will strive to regain protection for this iconic literary landmark and the moors which surround it."

Calderdale Wind Farm Ltd ­– which is behind the Calderdale Energy Park proposal – says the scheme would be capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 250,000 homes and reduce CO2 emissions nationally by about 354,000 tonnes each year.

A spokesperson adds: "Calderdale Energy Park presents a key opportunity to support the UK Government’s net zero targets, particularly given the strong wind resource at Walshaw Moor. The work carried out to date recognises that the scheme would result in some environmental impacts and includes measures to mitigate these and deliver enhancements across areas of the Walshaw Moor estate." (Alistair Shand)

Metro recommends Netflix's comedy Too Much.

Too Much is one of those rare gems, with characters destined to stay with you for life and have the same impact.

Meg Stalter stars as Jessica, who’s reeling from the end of a relationship. She’s moved back in with three generations of single women – and her nephew – at their family home in New York.

Increasingly isolated after a brutal breakup, her only solution is to accept a job in London and start over in solitude, imagining herself as a Brontë sister… in Hackney.

The estate she moves to isn’t quite the Downton Abbey she’d pictured – it’s a council estate in Hoxton. (Adam Miller)

Vulture reviews it too, commenting on the literary influences:

The plot of many a corseted period drama on which Jessica, the main character and narrator of Lena Dunham’s new Netflix series Too Much, has built her image of England goes something like this: An ingénue finds herself in a new environment, where she — clumsily, unpreparedly, authentically — falls in love with a distinguished gentleman who loves her back despite her “poor connections” and her faults. Often, this story is set on a picturesque estate, somewhere huge and stately with plenty of corners perfect for running into your prospective lover. This is how it goes for Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy; it’s how it goes for Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. The stories of their romance have endured over centuries because they are beautifully crafted, yes, but also because, like all romances, they are fantasies. They are stories in which a person’s essence, their inalienable magnetism, can transcend the constraints of society, custom, and ego. Part of what makes Lizzy Bennet so attractive is that Mr. Darcy tries to resist her pull.

Too Much is explicit about its influences: Jessica, who constantly refers to Jane Austen novels, is a foreigner in a new environment, open to being fallen in love with despite her kookiness. She’s jaded enough by her recent breakup to avoid the ingénue label, but because this is a show from Lena Dunham, she is unflinchingly sincere, a quality well-matched to Megan Stalter’s earnestness. (Rafaela Bassili)

More about it and its literary references/influences in The New Statesman:

We meet our heroine Jessica (Stalter) in New York, where she’s had an upsetting break-up. She uses a garden gnome to break in to the flat she used to live in with her ex-boyfriend Zev (Michael Zegen), and finds him asleep beside his hot new girlfriend Wendy, a knitwear influencer played with perfect drollness by Emily Ratajkowski. Jessica, who isn’t soothed by Wendy’s therapy up-speak (“I want to hold space for how you’re feeling”), flees to ensure she doesn’t get arrested. Soon after this humiliating debacle, she moves to London.

Like Dunham, Jessica is an Anglophile: she’s seen Spice World “nine times” and loves Wuthering Heights. (Leaf Arbuthnot)