When Ecotricity withdrew their application for a monitoring mast there was a sigh of relief. This was soon followed by the news of a second application for an even higher monitoring mast! That application has now been made and following some early confusion around payment it’s available on the Perth & Kinross council planning website for comments.
The initial application was met with 256 comments, an amazing response that would have led to the proposal having to be referred to the Development Management Committee (DMC). The exact reasons for the withdrawal of the application and subsequent resubsmission haven’t been clearly explained leading to a lot of questions and the inevitable conspiracy theories. If the submission, withdrawal and resubmission were part of the developers strategy then it would fit in well with the warnings given by planning experts when the proposal was first made public.
The proposal now being considered will be considered in isolation and the previous outpouring of local objections will have been removed. Those who found the time and energy to object will have to do the same again and the developer may be hoping that this time around there will be fewer objections allowing the application to proceed without the additional scrutiny being referred to the DMC would entail. Hopefully such hopes will prove unfounded, but drawing out the process certainly favours the developer. GASPS have sent out another newsletter highlighting the new application, so hopefully everyone who objected before will do so again.
Today is one of those fantastic autumnal days with clear skies and very little wind. It’s certainly cold, but not as cold as it has been and the lack of wind makes it a great day to be outside. Of course without the wind, the wind turbines will be still. That won’t matter to the developer though as they’ll still be making money from them – and that’s ultimately what this whole episode is about – money.
UPDATE: The closing date for objections is 12th October 2012 so we have a little more time than I anticipated. If you do plan on objecting, do it as soon as you can rather than waiting to the last minute.
You are quite correct it’s all about money but not for the majority of people in Scotland who will lose out. The government has recently been reported as saying that communities will benefit by taking bribes from these developers to put up with windfarms sites near their homes . http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9553930/Ed-Davey-residents-deserve-windfalls-for-putting-up-with-wind-farms.html
The £28000 windfall for a community within 6 miles of a windfarm was one figure mentioned.
So this is all about cash then! Communities should not be mislead by these bribes. Take a windfarm application such as Newmiln with around 150 homes just within the 2km ‘ safe distance’ – these families will probably lose £12.5 million off the value of their homes, pay £200 extra on their bills to support subsidies for wind developers as well as increased electricity prices! Furthermore in Perth and Kinross alone about 1 Million pounds of their Council Tax has been spent defending ill-sited wind turbine applications.
Where is the bribe for the individual’s in Scotland’s communities – where do the majority of Scotland’s people gain from the current SNP administration’s policy on renewables led by our power hungry crazed minister. I ask people via your blog again ( thankyou!) to object and bear in mind the following;
Even if there is not a wind farm within 6 miles ( which you will be soon) your pockets are being emptied by the ‘green’ wind scam in Scotland.
There’s more to lose too; loss of ‘real job’ jobs, loss of revenues from tourism to our beautiful unique landscape (and the flora and fauna it hosts) , loss of earnings from the health effects of living close to a wind turbine. Of course we want new facilities in our communities but what was wrong with adding value, joy ( and funds)to our communities with fun at annual village games, fairs , barbecues and Christmas parties.
Mr Davey we don’ t want windfarms that tear communities apart and make us unwell , pit neighbour against neighbour – we don’t want your bribes we want you to stop squandering public funds on windfarms that don’t work when we still have to pay for other energy generation to support them.
Penny Lewis