ONE can only hope that the Scottish Government and the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit read and digest Kate Mavor's reasoned comments regarding the proliferation of wind farms ("Heritage chief: Too much rush over wind farms, The Herald, April 25).
Ms Mavor, the outgoing chief executive of the National Trust for Scotland,makes the point that the impact of change and development in heritage is not considered enough and in some places they can be a desecration of the landscape.
There is a need for honest debate regarding the benefits of all types of energy, nuclear, green, and carbon, and I suspect that we will need to sensibly utilise the benefits of all three in such a way as to minimise the effects on the environment and the atmosphere while attempting to cope with the needs of a demanding and expanding population.
However. it would seem that at the moment the desire is to promote wind farm energy regardless of the costs involved both in environmental and financial terms.
There is a proposal under review to place 15 or 20 turbines up to 476ft tall on a highly visible area of the Cowal hills between Dunoon and Innellan on a site known as Bachan Burn. The major beneficiaries will be PNE Wind UK and the Forestry Commission. We can be assured that PNE is not undertaking this project out of any sense of altruism. It also seems odd that The Forestry Commission, set up to protect, develop and enhance our woodlands now seeks to destroy it.
The location of this proposal is one of particular concern to the inhabitants of the west of Scotland. A visit to the PNE website reveals a map highlighting areas from which these huge turbines would be visible. Much of the Glasgow area, all of the middle Clyde, everything from Dumbarton to Helensburgh, the entire Firth of Clyde from Gourock to Arran and beyond, Largs, Rothesay, the Kyles of Bute, and north-east Kintyre, and more besides, all offer clear views of the Cowal project.
Given that the Firth of Clyde is, by common consent, one of the jewels of not just Scotland, but the British Isles, bringing immense tourist benefits to the country (including more than 50 cruise liners in 2015, all of which would pass right under these giant turbines in future years), it is a matter of grave concern that the Forestry Commission is allowing the land to be sold for this purpose. The Clyde estuary has already seen considerable erosion to its natural beauty over the years; Hunterston ore terminal; Hunterston power station, the West Kilbride wind farm to name but three examples.
One hopes that our national Government, while seeking to find the best possible solutions to our energy problems, will take heed of Ms Mavor's concerns and apply a modicum of common sense and protect and conserve an area of natural beauty by refusing planning permission for this monstrosity.
Bob Buntin,
G/F1 Mortland House, Longhill, Skelmorlie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article