July 23, 2012
Scotland

SNP need to provide funding to help pay for wind farm applications

Graham Ford | Peeblesshire News | www.peeblesshirenews.com 23 July 2012

MSP John Lamont has called on the Scottish Government to help Scottish Borders Council with the costs of wind farm applications. Due to the SNP’s aggressive wind farm agenda, councils are seeing huge numbers of applications being sent to them, with some larger companies being encouraged to flood councils with requests.

This comes at a huge cost to local authorities because of the fees and workload involved in bringing bids through the system. Some councils have already called for a moratorium on wind farm planning applications due to these costs.

John Lamont MSP said: “Since the SNP set their ludicrous renewable energy targets wind farm applications increased hugely. The only way the SNP can provide 100% of Scotland’s energy through renewables is by building a lot of wind farms and they admitted this when they recently told councils to set aside land for wind farm sites.

“With some companies also being encouraged to flood councils with planning applications, Scottish Borders Council has been placed under a lot of pressure. Every wind farm application costs the council money to put it through the system, and with more applications than ever this is only getting worse.

“Not only is it taking up a lot of our council’s time, it is also costing the taxpayer money. Our council should be investing in improving services here in the Borders but instead they are having to pay for these endless applications. As such, I think it is only right that the Scottish Government help out.”

John Lamont added: “If it wasn’t for the SNP’s overly-ambitious targets our council wouldn’t have to be wasting this money. While they have already offered to provide some financial help they have only put up a paltry amount and with the costs rising it is no wonder that some councils have now called for a moratorium on wind farm applications. The people of the Borders shouldn’t be made to pay for the SNP’s foolish promises.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/23/snp-need-to-provide-funding-to-help-pay-for-wind-farm-applications/