SIR - According to UKIP’s Jason Smith, the “many” houses in the vicinity of wind turbines suffer a 40 per cent drop in value because of their presence! (Letters, May 24).

What nonsense! What next? Can’t we hang washing out (despite it being the easiest way for all to use solar and wind power), because it is “unsightly”?

Is it UKIP policy for house prices to keep outstripping RPI and wages, preventing many people from owning their own place?

If Mr Smith means that house values, (near turbines), aren’t rising as he'd expect, he should look to other causes.

I don't believe anyone anywhere will find that prices are 40 per cent below what they had paid for a property, including near turbines.

If “townies” aren’t as keen to buy near turbines, outbidding locals, that’s a good thing.

Perhaps the children of country folk could then afford to live near family and friends where they were raised.

If UKIP worry about renewables putting up the cost of electricity by a few per cent, they’ll be running around like headless chickens when competition from currently-underdeveloped countries pushes the price of conventional fuels ever higher.

We need a mix of energy that won’t destroy the planet as we know it.

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon