Anyone who opposes a wind farm is frequently referred to as a “Nimby”. This is due to the fact they are generally quoted as describing them as eyesores or blots on the landscape. No doubt these people also explain in great detail, as only someone who actually lives beside a wind farm is capable of doing, how it affects their lives due to the constant noise and flicker – not just during the day but also at night if they are unlucky enough to suffer from aviation lights on the turbines – as well as the worry that their property will be devalued or even rendered unsellable.
These are some of the problems associated with living beside wind farms which are either ignored or perhaps not understood by people living in cities and towns when they give their opinions in surveys. Hence the reason we get poll results such as the latest from YouGov, claiming that “Three quarters of Britons would back a local wind farm”.
From information already received by campaign group Scotland Against Spin, through correspondence with YouGov, we can see that of the 1826 UK respondents to this survey (weighted results) there were only 157 Scottish respondents (0.0028 per cent of the Scottish population) even though there are more onshore turbines in Scotland than in the rest of the countries in the UK put together. There is no information as to where these respondents live in relation to any wind farm.
The 157 total number of Scottish respondents compare with 219 respondents from London, where there are no onshore wind farms and never likely to be any, and a further 614 respondents from the “south of England”, where there are very few onshore wind farms, all of them tiny in comparison with Scotland’s. England’s turbines are generally less than 100m whereas Scotland has consented to turbines of 200m, with proposals for 260m turbines.
It is easy to say you support wind farms in your neighbourhood when you can be confident that you won’t ever have one.
Aileen Jackson, Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire
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