Protecting the Scottish Landscape

Protecting the Scottish Landscape

Inverness
23rd March 2013

On a bitterly cold day in Inverness, individuals, campaigners, and environmental protection groups converged at the SNP conference in Inverness to hand over a petition to urge the Government to Stop the reckless siting of wind turbines in Scotland’s scenic landscapes.

The petition was to be handed over by Rhona Weir, the widow of the celebrated climber, author and broadcaster Tom Weir. Tom was the first recipient of the John Muir Trust’s Lifetime Achievement award. Like Tom, Rhona is a great champion of the Scottish landscape and has carried on her husband’s pioneering work in protecting it.

Unfortunately, the petition was not accepted publicly by the First Minister on this occasion.

Thank You

The protest wouldn’t have happened without the hard work of very many SAS supporters. We would like to thank Pat Wells from Stop Highland Windfarms Campaign, the group that hosted the event. Pat liaised with the local authorities and the police to ensure arrangements for the day were properly authorized and progressed safely, and many, many other arrangements, including the services of the piper who accompanied the march on its progress.

We would also like to thank Stuart Young who organized the stewarding team, and Mary Young and Lyndsey Ward, who promoted the protest.

Thank you to Malcolm Kirk, who gave us the great SAS Window Stickers. (We have more of these to give away, and if you would like one, please send us an email to supporters@scotlandagainstspin.org with your postal address and we’ll send it along to you.)

And of course, we would like to extend an enormous thank you to Harley from Wind Wise Radio in America for the fantastic petition, and to Rhona Weir for battling the elements to come to Inverness, in order to present Wind Wise Radio’s petition to our First Minister, Alex Salmond. Mr Salmond didn’t make the short journey to the entrance of the conference centre to accept it, but we haven’t given up yet. Plans are afoot to make a presentation – we’ll let you know the details as soon as they are finalised.

We must also extend our thank yous to everybody who has donated to Scotland Against Spin since we first set up in January this year. Many people have offered us their time, their expertise and financial help, and we are very grateful indeed for their input and assistance.