Dinner raises £4,000

A DINNER in support of Sustainable Shetland’s legal challenge of the Viking Energy wind farm planning application has raised just over £4,000.

Around 120 people attended the three-course dinner in the Aith hall, on Saturday evening.

The campaign group’s chairman Frank Hay said he continued to be amazed by people’s generosity.

“This has given great encouragement to the committee in our ongoing campaign,” he said.

Hay said the group had now re-launched its appeal for funds towards the legal costs of the judicial review appeal hearing due to be heard at the Court of session at the end of February 2014.

“Although we have covered our costs for the original judicial review we now require more funds to cover legal costs for the appeal hearing.

“We were awarded costs in the outcome of the judicial review but these are on hold pending the result of the appeal,” he said.
 
In September this year Lady Clark of Calton ruled in favour of the protest group when she found that the Scottish government had failed to take proper account of its obligation under the bird directive when they gave the go-ahead for the 103 turbine wind farm.

The judge also found that the decision to allow the 370 megawatt wind farm to be built was ‘incompetent” because the developer did not have an electricity generating licence.

The Scottish government has appealed the ruling on both grounds.