Councillor Ian Chisholm has written to Kennedy Renewables to enquire about
restricted site access at Little Raith.
The SNP councillor contacted Jonny Kennedy, managing director of the
company, after being made aware of issues with access at the wind farm site
by a disabled constituent.
Cllr Chisholm has urged Mr Kennedy to install wicket gates at entrances to
the site to comply with Scottish open access legislation.
On a site visit, the Lochgelly and Cardenden councillor said, “Kennedy
Renewables know the law in Scotland which gives citizens the right to roam
freely in any part of our country without landlords being able to ask us to
leave.
“It is a fundamental right brought in by the Scottish Government a few
years ago and is widely regarded as the most progressive law of its kind in
Europe and the envy of even Scandinavian hikers.
“Kennedy have an information board accurately detailing these rights at the
entrance but walkers are faced with a locked gate. This is not acceptable
and certainly not compliant with the law.
“It breaches Fife Council core path guidelines and I have already spoken to
the officer in charge of Fife’s core paths who will also be taking up the
issue with Mr Kennedy.
“My letter asked him to install unlocked wicket gates suitable for disabled
scooters and pedestrians and to restore the freedom to roam to our local
community. I have a bit of a campaign going to restore various paths around
the area and I would appeal to walkers and hikers to get in touch with me
via Fife Council if they know of any restrictions to paths in the
Cowdenbeath area.”
In response, Mr Kennedy told the Times, “I have been corresponding with
Councillor Chisholm and I completely respect the email he sent about open
access and the right to roam act.
“I have let Councillor Chisholm know that we will endeavour to rectify this
problem and apologies were put forward to him.
“We are currently looking into the problem and we will endeavour to sort it
out. Whatever we do it will make it a lot easier for the public to roam
around and quite rightly too.
“Councillor Chisholm has been quite supportive about wind and we are
thankful to him for supporting the industry. We appreciate him coming
forward as it was the first we had heard of it.”
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