July 3, 2014
Scotland

Wind turbine stats have campaigners in a spin for East Renfrewshire

Barrhead News | 03 July 2014 | www.barrheadnews.com

Campaigners claim East Renfrewshire is “saturated” with wind turbines as statistics reveal there is one turbine for every square kilometre in the authority.

Figures revealed by Energised Environments show that there are also more turbines per head of the population in East Renfrewshire than there are in major windfarm areas, such as Aberdeenshire.

Anti-turbine protestors say the stats show there is an over-development of windfarms in the area, and that council bosses must change their attitudes to planning.

Avid campaigner Aileen Jackson, from Uplawmoor, said: “Per square kilometre, East Renfrewshire has more than three times more turbines than any other local authority in Scotland.

“This report does not take account of the smaller turbines which are also abundant in East Renfrewshire, particularly in the Uplawmoor, Neilston area.

“It will be interesting to see if this data helps to argue that the East Renfrewshire landscape is now over saturated with turbines and changes ERC’s priorities, which are currently weighted more towards the development of the urban environment rather than to sustain the rural environment.”

Turbines have divided opinion in the area in recent years as more developments have sprung up across the authority.

Some Neilston residents and Uplawmoor residents objected to the building of the Neilston Community Windfarm, while East Renfrewshire also plays host to part of Europe’s biggest onshore windfarm, Whitelee near Eaglesham.

However, the presence of Europe’s largest windfarm also means that the figures could be misleading without context, as many of the turbines are concentrated into a single area.

Campaigners argue that, as well as their visual impact on the rural andscape, low frequency noise generated by the turbines can also have a massive impact on a resident’s physical and mental wellbeing.

Aileen added: “I think it is about time that East Renfrewshire changed its priorities when it comes to planning and applications for wind turbines, the building of Neilston Windfarm has had a much larger effect on the local area than developers said it would and it is villages like Uplawmoor who are suffering.”

A spokesman from ERC said: “These figures will include Whitelee Wind Farm, which is the largest onshore windfarm in Europe and will therefore reflect heavily in the figures.

“In the assessment of wind turbine applications, we operate within a national planning framework. We must also work within previously approved Strategic and Local Development Plans. Turbine applications are consistently assessed against these.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/07/03/wind-turbine-stats-have-campaigners-in-a-spin-for-east-renfrewshire/