August 6, 2014
Scotland

Windfarm extension ‘sneaked’ through

Peeblesshire News | 6 Aug 2014 | www.peeblesshirenews.com

Tweeeddale MP David Mundell has accused the Scottish Government of “sneaking” a major windfarm application through whilst the public were distracted with the Commonwealth Games.

An extension of 52 turbines has been agreed for the 154 turbine Clyde Windfarm which sits to the west of the A701 between Tweedsmuir and Moffat. The existing development is entirely in South Lanarkshire but the extension will bring yet more turbines into the Scottish Borders.

Mr Mundell, a Tory, claims the approval continues the SNP Scottish Government’s policy of dumping large scale wind turbine developments in the South of Scotland and overriding the wishes of local people. He said: “This extension is bigger than many new windfarms elsewhere yet seems to have almost gone through on the nod. I am appalled at the Scottish Government’s disregard for the views of local people who like me believe that enough is enough and we have had more of our share of Scotland’s windfarm development locally.

“They seem determined in order to meet their targets to cover every local hillside with turbines and the overhead cables and unsightly substations that go with them. We know they don’t bring local permanent jobs, yet developers still try to pretend they do. We get all the pain and none of the gain.

“Sadly, I think there is an obvious political element to it. The Scottish Government centralises power and starves this area of resources, but when it comes to wind turbines they can’t give us enough. We don’t see SNP supporting areas saturated with turbines in this way.

“Obviously we now need to work to minimise disruption, particularly on the A701 during construction and hope there is some community financial benefit that comes to local projects.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/08/06/windfarm-extension-sneaked-through/