Viking landslides, who’ll pay?

Shetland is reckoned to have the highest risk of peat slides in the British Isles. The Viking windfarm is planned to be built across the area of highest risk in Shetland according to the British Geological survey risk map.

Just imagine the slester there would be if this recent uplowsing had happened during the construction of Viking’s 100km of access roads across the moors.

Many kilometres of so-called ‘floating roads’ would be washed away; culverts would become deep erosion gullies; many of the vast quarries and cement works would overflow their bunds to pollute watercourses, lochs and voes.

Worst of all, property and lives will be at risk from landslides because the recommended distance from dwellings is being ignored.

The SIC and Shetland Charitable Trust have failed to take action on the health risk posed by the proximity of turbines into dwellings.

Perhaps they will now take seriously the dangers posed by the industrial swathe to be cut across the middle of Shetland.

If the windfarm is built and the inevitable happens, it won’t be the government that will be picking up the cost of clear up and litigation.

Allen Fraser
Hamnavoe
Burra