Scotsman letters
Public Pressure
We note that there is a campaign to pressurise South Lanarkshire Council to grant planning permission for the proposed Bodinglee WInd Farm due to alleged local support expressed in the form of a modest number of letters (300 from local residents and five from community councils). Of course, planning guidance makes it clear that the number of representations for or against a development should not be a determining factor, given the overriding importance of planning considerations. However, if this is to be the new approach, then we would suggest that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. In short, if voluble support for a wind farm (or other renewable energy project) is to justify approval, then voluble opposition should equally justify refusal. And goodness knows, there have been far too many cases of the wishes of local residents and community councils being trampled in the dirt by renewable energy companies and the Scottish Government.
Some of the people around the proposed wind farm may have had their heads turned by the forty pieces of silver on offer. So be it. But those people elsewhere who are less easily bribed and more concerned about the massive environmental damage associated with these projects should also be heeded and their views should be given a similar voice. Especially since all the evidence confirms that renewable energy and the costs and subsidies associated with it add significantly to bills and causing fuel poverty, rather than – as claimed by its proponents – the opposite.
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (Gillian Martin) might like to ponder on the reality of considerable public opposition when she finally faces irate MSPs and their even more irate constituents when the Scotland Against Spin Petition (Increase the ability of Communities to influence planning decisions for onshore wind farms) is next heard in the Scottish Parliament.
Aileen Jackson
Scotland Against Spin
East Renfrewshire
John Swinney travelled 3,000 miles to discuss the 10 per cent tariff on Scotch whisky with Donald Trump. Why did the SNP cabinet not insist he switched direction and travel to Spain to ascertain from the CEO of Iberdola how the unit cost of electricity in Spain is only half that charged to Scottish consumers!
Surely a 12p/unit cut to electricity bills would be of greater assistance to the whisky industry than any reduction in US tariffs on the product?
Ian Moir Castle Douglas, Dumfries and
Galloway
0 Comments