TENS of thousands of Scots may be suffering from a hidden sickness epidemic
caused by wind farms, campaigners have warned.
By: Paula Murray
The Sunday Express can reveal that the Scottish Government has recently
commissioned a study into the potential ill effects of turbines at 10 sites
across the country.
More than 33,500 families live within two miles of these 10 wind farms –
which represent just a fraction of the 2,300 turbines – already built north
of the Border.
Hundreds of residents are now being asked to report back to Holyrood
ministers about the visual impacts, and effects of noise and shadow
flickers from nearby wind farms.
Campaigners fear that many people do not realise they are suffering from
ailments brought on by infrasound – noise at such a low frequency that it
cannot be heard but can be felt.
One such person is Andrew Vivers, an ex-Army captain who has suffered from
headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, raised blood pressure and disturbed sleep
since Ark Hill wind farm was built near his home in Glamis, Angus.
Mr Vivers, who served almost 10 years in the military, said the authorities
had so far refused to accept the ill effects of infrasound despite it being
a “known military interrogation aid and weapon”.
He said: “When white noise was disallowed they went on to infrasound. If it
is directed at you, you can feel your brain or your body vibrating. With
wind turbines, you don’t realise that is what’s happening to you.
“It is bonkers that infrasound low frequency noise monitoring is not
included in any environmental assessments. It should be mandatory before
and after turbine erection.”
He is raising concerns about an “acknowledged and unexplained increase of
insomnia, dizziness and headaches in Dundee”, where two large wind turbines
have been operating since 2006. Mr Vivers, 59, said all medical
explanations of his own sudden health issues had been ruled out and it was
more than 12 months before he was convinced of the link to the wind farm.
I was getting these headaches and dizziness and just not sleeping, but I
was putting it all down to all sorts of other things. A couple of times I
was walking on the hills around the house with my dogs and got a really bad
dizzy spell
Andrew Vivers
He said: “I was getting these headaches and dizziness and just not
sleeping, but I was putting it all down to all sorts of other things. A
couple of times I was walking on the hills around the house with my dogs
and got a really bad dizzy spell.
“I actually had to sit down for a few minutes and while I was sitting down
wondering what on earth was wrong with me, I did notice the wind was coming
straight from the turbines.” Mr Vivers said he has also witnessed an
“incredible number” of dead hares on the moors around Ark Hill and believes
they may have succumbed to “internal haemorrhaging and death” as a result
of the turbines.
He added: “If this coming winter is going to be anything like the last and
with the plans to build a second wind farm much closer to us, I think we’ll
have to sell our home and move elsewhere.”
The 10 sites under the microscope in the new survey include one in
Dunfermline, where almost 23,000 households are nearby, and Little Raith
near Lochgelly, Fife, where there are nearly 9,000 households.
The others are Achany in Sutherland, Baillie near Thurso, Caithness,
Dalswinton in Dumfriesshire, Drone Hill, near Coldingham, Berwickshire,
Griffin in Perthshire, Hadyard Hill in Ayrshire, Neilston in Renfrewshire
and West Knock, near Stuartfield, Aberdeenshire.
About 2,000 questionnaires have been sent to residents in a move that is
understood to have caused tension between the Scottish Government and the
renewable energy industry.
The “wind farm impacts study” is being managed by ClimateXChange, which has
published information about the project online.
It says: “The research will use two sources of information: how local
residents experience and react to visual, noise and shadow-flicker impacts,
and how the predicted impact at the planning stage matches the impact when
the wind farm is operating.
“The final report is due in autumn 2014. It will inform the Scottish
Government’s approach to planning policy on renewables and good practice on
managing the impact of wind farms on local residents.”
One of the contractors involved in the project is Hoare Lea Acoustics, an
international firm which specialises in measuring noise and vibration from
wind farms.
However, Susan Croswaithe, the UK spokeswoman for campaign group European
Platform Against Windfarms, said the study would be “little more than a box
ticking exercise”.
She added: “On the face of it, it does look like a step in the right
direction, but can we really trust it? My issue is that it is not
independent enough.
“Our website is full of examples of people not being listened to.
“We have two very large wind farms near us in Ayrshire, Arecleoch and Mark
Hill – 60 turbines and 28 turbines.
“If people in my area have noticed they are feeling better at the moment
but do not understand why, it may be because the turbines have been
switched off while they do maintenance on the grid.”
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