Committee 'misled' on wind farm report
Once again Moray Council has sold off a large chunk of our heritage to foreign developers. I refer to the planning committee’s decision not to object to the Olsen Renewables application to virtually double the size of the Rothes wind farm south of Elgin.
To be fair to the committee, they were completely misled by a pathetic report from the planners, who left out important information. One example was the fact that this application conflicts with our Local Plan, and none of the objections submitted by members of the public was made available to the committee.
The Scottish Government stridently claims that the public must be involved in the planning process, yet Moray Council refused to allow a local public hearing, claiming that there was no legal precedent. In addition, the duty of the planners is to serve the planning needs of the people of Moray, not to support a seriously flawed government policy on renewable energy.
It actually gets worse, because when this huge development is completed it will double the subsidy that we give Olsen Renewables, from about £5 million a year to about £10 million. To date the wind farms at Rothes and Paul’s Hill have cost us over £50 million in subsidies. Electricity supplied to local houses, nil; effect on climate change, nil; permanent jobs, very few. – Yours etc,
Bob Graham Craigsview, Inchberry, Orton.
26 June 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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