Many of you will remember that on December 2nd Aileen Jackson and I accepted the invitation to meet with the Energy Minister Fergus Ewing at Holyrood.
This was a meeting to discuss the impacts of windfarm development on drinking water supplies – both public and private.
It was apparent to Mr Ewing that this was a complex issue which required more time than was available in just one meeting to provide comprehensive answers to our questions. We were then asked to submit four written questions after the meeting which Mr Ewing assured us would be answered in full. We were also told that we would have these answers by the end of January 2016. These questions and the eventual answers are provided below.
So why did it take the Scottish Government and its Agencies almost four months to provide answers?
Is it because they did a lot of research to provide us with new facts and figures?
No.
Did they actually answer the questions?
No!
… and this is probably why it took so long to provide us with answers.
How do you frame an answer that doesn’t answer the question and doesn’t implicate you, or the Department you represent as being negligent in any way?
– Answer: Because that’s how our politicians work; they have a laundrette department which can spin anything dirty, so that it comes out squeaky clean.
Did they tell us anything that we didn’t know already?
No!
They just regurgitated policy that we knew already and which is already provided on line about what SEPA, Scottish Water’s and Local Authority roles and responsibilities are with respect to drinking water.
Wait for it though… there is one ‘new’ piece of information which all Local authorities should be aware of: Not only are LA’s responsible for Private Water Supplies, but they are also it seems, responsible for Public water supplies – even if as happened at Whitelee, the whole consenting process is scrutinised by a Scottish Government Department (The Energy consents unit) and the decision to consent is made by Scottish Ministers under a Section 36 agreement– regardless of whether the Local authority and the local Community objects. Considering that 60 of Scottish Power’s turbines are sited on Scottish Water’s publicly owned water catchment area and SW, not the Local authority, get the substantial rent money for hosting the turbines, that seems particularly unfair.
But when two public reservoirs on the Whiitelee windfarm site and a water treatment works have to be abandoned because the water quality has deteriorated and an alternative water supply pipe costs the taxpayer £120 million, whose responsibility is it then? – No answer is the loud response from the Scottish Government.
We may think we live in a Democracy where our elected representatives are held to be accountable, but the public are deluded if we think that’s the reality. What this shows is that our Ministers make planning decisions which can affect the quality and quantity of our drinking water supplies and then walk away from their responsibilities when it all goes wrong, leaving underfunded Local Authorities carrying the baby and the blame!
Perhaps Erin Brockovitch would have more influence with our Government than its taxpayers!
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