Councillor Les Hamilton should get his facts straight before criticising my stance on the proposed King's House wind turbines at the last Brighton and Hove City Council planning committee meeting. If he had actually attended the meeting, rather than relying on hearsay, he would be aware that the application was turned down on perfectly proper planning grounds - namely the adverse impact on nearby listed buildings and the amenity of nearby residents and also the poor energy-saving potential of the proposed scheme. Whether Coun Hamilton likes it or not, poor energy efficiency equals poor value for money.

Unfortunately, some of the facts have been drowned out by the political posturing and grandstanding from the Labour and Green parties on this issue.

In the best case scenario, the output from the turbines would have reduced the council's carbon footprint by a mere 0.008% or the equivalent of taking one family car off the road. Similarly, the time taken to recoup the £60,000 cost of the turbines would, at best, be 12 years and, at worst, 37 years.

This is hardly the money and energy-saving innovation that has been claimed. There are many other initiatives that the council is currently, and will be in the future, implementing to increase the energy efficiency of our operations. These may not grab a quick headline in The Argus, but are much more cost-effective and lead to considerably greater carbon savings.

Coun Hamilton omitted one crucial part of the Conservatives' local election slogan - it should read: "Vote blue, go green and save money" not something his Labour administration were too worried about when they were increasing council tax levels by 120%.