Wuthering blight?

Welcome readers — as we stare down another spate of blazing temperatures, it’s another reminder of the urgency of a push towards renewable energy, like solar and wind. But the tricky thing about huge windfarms is they have to go somewhere. And when that somewhere is the very heights that inspired Wuthering Heights — also an area of huge ecological importance — it’s perhaps not a surprise that locals aren’t thrilled. Mia’s story today has fanatical campaigners, Saudi investment funds, hundreds of faux Kate Bushes, and a very sweet Airedale terrier called Teddy. 

We’ve also got your news round-up, and some suggestions for how to spend your precious free time in the coming days.

The round-up:

🚨 An officer for West Yorkshire Police (WYP) has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. PC James Barnes, 30, who is based at the Carr Gate Operations Complex in Wakefield, is alleged to have kicked a man in the head while on duty in Leeds on September 28 last year, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). The IOPC said a suspected drink-driver was led away from a vehicle and the passenger “began to walk away”. Another officer is said to have taken the passenger to the ground and it is then that he was allegedly kicked by PC Barnes, with the man appearing to “lose consciousness for several minutes”. The officer is due to appear before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

🔥 A pub flat at The Needless Inn, in Scotchman Lane, Morley was gutted after a tumble dryer sparked a fire on Monday. West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (WYFRS) told The Exchange that it was called to the scene at 1.36pm that day and three crews were sent to the scene to extinguish the fire. Tara Sherratt and Danny Smith, who only retook over the pub last June, said on social media that they were “devastated” by the accident but added, “the show must go on” and closed for at least yesterday to begin the clean up. WYFRS recorded the cause as a fault in a spin dryer.

♻️ Four clothing banks have been removed in Batley East (Field Lane, Henry Street, Victoria Avenue and Taylor Street) over the past few months, as reported by Yorkshire Live. Independent Councillor Akhtar Kasia told Yorkshire Live that residents had raised concerns for “several years” and said the sites had become “magnets” for fly-tipping. But Councillor Kasia stressed that the removals should not be seen to be "discouraging recycling".

On Penistone Hill, near Haworth, hundreds of Kate Bushes are in motion. Their long red dresses swoop and lunge as they engage in The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever: a mass, simultaneous dance tribute to the 1978 song “Wuthering Heights” that’s as joyful as it is silly. 

They’re on the doorstep of Walshaw Moor, the place that inspired the Emily Brontë novel, which has been brought right back into the cultural mainstream via the successful (if not to everyone’s taste) film, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

But Emily Brontë isn’t the only one to have seen the potential in this vast expanse of wild moorland. The clue is in the title: Wuthering is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as “a place where the wind blows strongly”. Ideal then, if you happen to be a Saudi Arabian investment company looking to fund major windfarm projects — like Al Gihaz Holding.

Hi, Mia here. Thanks for reading this far.

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