Anti-windfarm protesters to stage national rally in Ayr
Communities Against Turbines Scotland, www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com 31 October 2011
Communities Against Turbines Scotland, www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com 31 October 2011
Scotland’s first national conference against the scourge of windfarms will be held in Ayr on Friday 11th November. Bringing together over 300 anti-windfarm protesters from the Borders to Caithness and from Tiree to the Cairngorms, the conference is being organized by CATS (Communities Against Turbines Scotland) and will be chaired by Labour’s Mike Pearson MSP.
Speakers at the all-day event will include Professor Iain MacLeod, Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) and Chairman of the IESIS Energy Strategy Group, who will discuss the uncertainties involved in using wind power to meet the Scottish Government’s main policy objectives for electricity. He will be joined by Colin Gibson, formerly Power Network Director at the National Grid who will speak about the cost of wind power.
Dr Chris Hanning, who is an honorary consultant in Sleep Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester, will outline the effect of wind turbines on peoples’ sleep and Dr Malcolm Swinbanks, a leading expert on low frequency noise, will discuss the serious impact of wind turbine noise which in some cases has driven people from their homes. A further noise expert, Dick Bowdler, a noise consultant for the past forty years, will outline noise assessments associated with planning applications for the construction of windfarms. Dr Malcolm Swinbanks studied for his doctorate in Applied Mathematics under Professor Sir James Lighthill, at Cambridge. Lighthill held the Lucasian Professorship, first awarded to Isaac Newton. Two of Lighthill’s accomplishments – Aeroacoustics, the mathematical procedures for jet-engine noise reduction, together with his subsequent analysis of the dynamics of the cochlea (inner ear) – relate directly to the understanding and perception of wind-turbine noise. He is an expert in low frequency noise and infrasound and familiar with the problems created by wind turbines.
The afternoon session of the conference will feature well-known environmentalist Helen McDade of the John Muir Trust, outlining the impact of industrial wind developments on Scotland’s wild and natural landscapes. She will be followed by the Scottish Conservative Euro MP and renowned anti-windfarm crusader Struan Stevenson, who will speak about the financial scandal of the race for renewables and the impact of wind turbines on Scotland’s tourist industry.
Note:
The Scottish National Wind Conference will be held on Friday 11th November from 10.00 am – 4.00 pm in the Ayrshire Suite at Ayr Racecourse, Ayr. There is an attendance fee of £26 per person to include, Room Hire, Equipment, Morning Tea/Coffee/Homemade Shortbread, Finger Buffet Lunch (Hot & Cold Items) served with Tea/Coffee, Paper/Pens and Bottled Mineral Water/Cordials in the Meeting Room.
Registration can be done online at:
www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com
Kim Terry
CATS Treasurer
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/01/anti-windfarm-protesters-to-stage-national-rally-in-ayr/