In the last few years, East Renfewshire Council Planning Department has
received a large number of objections from local residents and community
councils , expressing first their concern, then their disbelief, followed
by their absolute disgust at the endless number of wind turbine
developments being granted planning permission on the Greenbelt in the
Uplawmoor/Neilston area.
Despite complaints of light pollution and unacceptable noise from the
turbines and harsh criticism from Scottish Natural Heritage for their
failure to request adequate environmental information on which to make an
informed decision, ERC continue to approve the industrialisation of our
landscape in order to avoid the inconvenience of an appeal by developers.
In contrast, it is heartening to witness the efforts being made by East
Ayrshire Council (EAC) to control further wind turbine development in this
area. In a recent submission to an appeal against their refusal to grant
planning permission , they express their concerns about the cumulative
impact of wind turbine development on the East Renfrewshire side of the
boundary beside Uplawmoor “to the point that they are the dominant visual
features of the local area and have in fact contributed to this area
becoming a wind turbine landscape.”
EAC learned through experience of open cast mining that the
decommissioning, restoration and aftercare of environmentally damaging
developments can result in huge expense to the tax payers. For that
reason, turbine developments of all sizes are required to have a financial
guarantee secured through a legal agreement, to ensure obligations will
be met in the event that the developer is unable or unwilling to do so.
Despite having three times more turbines per square kilometre than any
other local authority area in Scotland, the only turbines within East
Renfrewshire with a legal agreement guaranteeing removal by those who have
benefited financially from them, are the six turbines at Middleton and our
share of Whitelee.
Get a grip ERC and consider the environmental disaster you are leaving for
our children to deal with.
Aileen Jackson
Uplawmoor
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