Scotland Against Spin, the national organisation which campaigns for reform of Scottish wind energy policy, welcomed the publication of the Scottish Government study into wind farm impacts.
Linda Holt, spokesperson for SAS, said:
“This study is the first of its kind in the world to put the the experience of people living near wind farms at its heart. For too long, people who have complained about wind farms have been dismissed as nimbies, and we applaud the Energy Minister Fergus Ewing for commissioning this work.
The recommendations show that the planning system is ill-equipped to address potentially adverse impacts on wind farm neighbours, and we urge the Scottish Government to lose no time in implementing them. For too long, decision-makers on wind farms have been asked to determine applications while blind-folded about the true impacts of placing enormous industrial machines near people’s homes.
We share the disappointment of the hundreds of residents who completed a survey for the study that the contractors refused to undertake new noise monitoring. We are not surprised that the contractors found the modelling in past and current noise assessments to be inadequate. Noise emissions are the biggest fear for communities forced to host wind farms.
This study is an important step in the right direction but it has been plagued by delay and a lack of transparency over the data collected, where the commercial interests of the wind farm operators have trumped those of local communities. We call on Mr Ewing to continue the sterling work he has started with this study, devote adequate resources to investigating noise and health impacts and fast-track much-needed planning reform.
As Mr Ewing is holding a summit for wind developers about the impact of subsidy cuts, he might hold a similar summit for local communities to establish how neighbours of both existing and proposed wind turbines can be protected from harmful impacts.”
End Notes
CXC Press Release: CXC Wind Farm Impact Study news release
Final Report: FINAL REPORT_Wind Farm Impacts Study_July 2015_ISSUE
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