November 9, 2011
Scotland

Windfarm critics set for rally

Berwickshire News, www.berwickshirenews.co.uk 9 November 2011

Scotland’s first national conference aimed at challenging the Scottish Government’s commitment to wholesale windfarm development will be held in Ayr on Friday, November 11.

Bringing together over 300 anti-windfarm protesters, from the Borders to Caithness and from Tiree to the Cairngorms, the Scottish National Windfarm Conference is being organised by Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS).

The conference will be chaired by Scottish Labour’s Graeme Pearson MSP.

The keynote speaker at the event will be Conservative Euro MP for Scotland, Struan Stevenson MEP.

Other speakers at the all-day event will include: Professor Iain MacLeod, Emeritus Professor of Structural Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) and Chairman of the IESIS Energy Strategy Group; Colin Gibson, former Power Network Director at the National Grid; Dr Malcolm Swinbanks, independent acoustic researcher and consultant; Dr Chris Hanning, honorary consultant in Sleep Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester; Dick Bowdler, founding member of the Institute of Acoustics and an independent consultant on windfarm noise pollution); and Helen McDade, Head of Policy at the John Muir Trust).

Speaking ahead of the conference, Struan Stevenson MEP said: “I am delighted to be attending this pioneering national conference as keynote speaker.

“All over Scotland we are seeing giant wind turbines cropping up all over the countryside and people are beginning to say enough is enough.

“The time has come for the government to think again about its windfarm policy.

“We all stand to suffer from the growing scourge of windfarms and the inestimable damage they do to our landscape, economy and national prosperity, all for a negligible return on energy and environmental benefit.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/09/windfarm-critics-set-for-rally/