By Cameron Brooks
Campaigners have claimed the Scottish Government’s attitude to onshore
windfarms was partly to blame for the No vote in the referendum.
Lindsay Ward and Pat Wells said they had spoken to several people who
rejected independence because they were fed up with the Highlands being
covered with turbines.
The referendum result in the region showed that 47.8% of 190,778 voters
said Yes and 52.9% said No.
But the claims were branded “absolute nonsense” by Dave Thompson, SNP MSP
for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.
He said the Yes vote in the region was one of the best in Scotland and
pointed out that the government had rejected several windfarm proposals
recently.
Ms Ward of Kiltarlity near Beauly said not many people in urban council
areas which backed independence – Glasgow, Dundee, North Lanarkshire and
West Dunbartonshire – would be affected by turbines.
The No voter said: “I think there will be many people out there who decided
to vote the other way because of how they have been treated by this
government.”
Ms Wells of Tomatin, convener of the Strathdearn Against Windfarm
Developments group, said: “It has certainly affected the people I know who
voted No and part of that is based on the blanketing of the countryside
with wind turbines.”
But Mr Thompson said: “These claims are absolute nonsense and the Yes vote
in the Highlands was one of the better results in Scotland, so that does
not hold water.”
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