September 6, 2011
Scotland

Wind Turbine demonstrators plan to lobby First Minister in Elgin

By Stuart Crowther, local.stv.tv 5 September 2011

First Minister Alex Salmond is set to face a demonstration against the proliferation of onshore wind farms.

Mr Salmond will be in Elgin on Tuesday for the latest in a series of Scottish Government Cabinet meetings held away from Holyrood.

Ministers will meet in the Elgin Library before holding a lunchtime reception in the Elgin Youth Café, celebrating the year of ‘Active Scotland’, recognising local youth and sporting groups who have contributed to promoting sports events in the run up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Cabinet members will then gather in the afternoon at Elgin Town Hall, where the public is invited to put questions in a public discussion on current events.

It is ahead of the Town Hall event that a group plan to hold a demonstration, drawing attention to their concerns for rural Scotland in the face of the growing number of wind farm developments.

An email has been circulating ahead of the Cabinet meeting urging people to “bring placards, banners and leaflets expressing your concerns about the swiftly growing number of wind farms, and the government’s lack of concern about the effect this is having on people’s quality of life.”

Organisers of the protest hope to question Mr Salmon on wind farm policy, with campaigner Caroline Hobbs saying: “There is growing concern about the amount of turbines in Aberdeenshire, but people are also coming down from Beauly and Wick for the protest.”

Local people in Cummingston and Burghead, who have been fighting against the erection of turbines at Clarkly Hill and overlooking the village of Cummingston, are being urged to join the protest.

Dave Townsend, Secretary of the Cummingston Residents Action Group, said: “The demonstration on Tuesday highlights that our cause is not an isolated one, so if some local people wish to swell the numbers they would be made very welcome.”

The demonstration is planned to take place outside the Town Hall at 2pm.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/06/wind-turbine-demonstrators-plan-to-lobby-first-minister-in-elgin/