February 25, 2015
Scotland

The masts must go too, say wind farm protestors

The Galloway Gazette | 25 February 2015 | www.gallowaygazette.co.uk

After a successful campaign to block a wind farm on Machars land, protestors are now putting pressure on developers to remove testing masts.

EDF Renewables announced plans to pull the plug on the Airriequhillart Wind Farm near Barrachan last month but have made no move to take down two wind monitoring masts on the site which have towered ove Mr Shiells’ home for years.

Now Andy Shiells who led the campaign against the plans has called on the energy giant to get them shifted.

Mr Shiells said this week: “According to our records the planning for the erection of the two EDF masts connected to the project expires on March 8th after three years.

“We have asked the CEO of EDF Renewables, Chistian Egal, to remove them, especially as his firm did not fully comply with the planning regulations when they sneaked them up in the first place.

“We do not wish these blots on the landscape to remain longer than necessary. They are a grim reminder of a trying and stressful three years of fighting what was always an absurd proposal.

“We have also raised the matter with our local MSPs.”

EDF Energy Renewables responded to say the company was working on having the masts removed but it woudl take time.

Tony Scorer from the company responded to Mr Shiells to say: “Rest assured that we are working to organise the dismantling and removal of the monitoring masts as soon as possible.

“We ourselves have no wish to leave them in place any longer than necessary but the work to remove them is not straightforward and requires specialist contractors to safely dismantle the mast and supporting structures.

“This work also needs to be carried out in safe weather conditions.

“So while I can only apologise if you feel inconvenienced by their continued presence, I can assure you that we will remove them as soon as our contractors are available and the weather conditions allow for the work to be carried out safely.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/02/25/the-masts-must-go-too-say-wind-farm-protestors/