IF nothing else, Donald Trump’s explanation why Scots opted not to back
independence confirmed his reputation as one of the most egoistic men on
the planet.
Interviewed a day after the referendum, the blowhard billionaire said that,
had Alex Salmond not “littered” the country with “horrible wind turbines”,
he might have achieved his objective. As it was, “There’s much anger [in
Scotland] over this subject.”
Though it saddens me to break the habit of a lifetime, I cannot help but
agree with the almighty Trump. Wherever I have visited this past year, I
have come to the conclusion that, on the matter of wind farms, ours is
nation decisively divided.
There are those, for example, who are eager to say “yes” to wind farms, and
do not mind them in their backyard, especially if they can expect to make a
few bob from them. You may call them greedy; I cannot possibly comment.
Then there are others who look upon them as they do, say, a manure factory.
To them, they are an assault on the senses and an affront to the nation
that insists on calling itself “bonnie”. Scotland, they insist, needs more
of them as Kate Moss does an outbreak of acne.
The latest “farm” to cause upset, which was discussed yesterday at
Holyrood, is between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht. If the plans are
accepted there will be 24 turbines, each rising to 410ft. That’s more than
10 times the height of a double-decker bus. Not surprisingly, this has
irked various organisations, including the Mountaineering Council of
Scotland and the John Muir Trust, both of which say it would have a
catastrophic effect on the landscape.
They have been joined by the American author Diana Gabaldon, whose hugely
popular Outlander novels have been filmed in Perthshire. “Light bulbs need
energy,” Gabaldon told this newspaper, “human souls need wildness and
beauty.” Were there to be a referendum on the issue, it would be
interesting to see where people’s sympathies lie. What would you rather
have: light or beauty?
It is, of course, an iniquitous question because it ought to be possible to
have both. That’s the situation at present. But, increasingly, those in
favour of wind farms argue that some beauty must be sacrificed for us to
illuminate the gloom. That they are winning is apparent to all. From the
Lammermuirs to Shetland, they sprout like pylons, taming wildness and
transforming once breathtaking, natural vistas into industrial sites of
stunning ugliness.
Thus, little by little, Scotland’s countryside is being transformed. As
someone who used to romp over empty hills like a kilted Jacobite pursued by
a swarm of midges, I find this hard to accept. In the past, terrible sores
have been planted on the land by owners only interested in increasing their
own wealth. But these were isolated and often hidden excrescences. Wind
farms are different. You can see them from afar. The one between Loch
Rannoch and Loch Ericht will be visible from miles around, despoiling views
of and from more than 30 Munros and Corbetts.
The cumulative effect is painful and disturbing. They do not blend
sympathetically into the scenery but bludgeon and besmirch it. Whenever I
spy one on a Borders hill, my response is to avert my gaze. Many sensitive
folk feel similarly but opposing those who wish to foist such carbuncles on
us is expensive, time-consuming and emotionally enervating.
Recently, after more than a two-year battle, permission was granted for the
building of 103 gigantic turbines on a Shetland peat bog. Though there were
initially more than 2,700 objections, the Government gave the project a
green light. Some 800 protesters raised £130,000 to contest the development
and have pledged to take their case to the Supreme Court in London. That
will mean yet more money and time.
What’s more, there are grounds to believe that the economic benefit of the
scheme is pie in the sky. Indeed, not far from where the turbines will rise
like one of Trump’s vainglorious towers, is Sullom Voe oil terminal, which
daily processes enough oil to keep Shetland’s lights blazing far into the
future. But the issue here, as at Rannoch, is not one of sustainability,
it’s profit, for the sake of which who cares if a priceless view is ruined.
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