Another meaningless waste of everyone’s time?

Back at the start of September, a “consultation” was held regarding Shetland Renewables Connections.

If people couldn’t attend or had further questions, the advice was to contact the community liaison manager. So, on 6 September (and again on 21 September) I did just that.

I never received a reply to either email, however, not even a “thank you for your message and we will respond in due course”.  If the message could not be delivered, I would normally get a ‘bounce’ notification, but I didn’t get that either, so I can only conclude their silence speaks for itself and the so-called consultation was another meaningless waste of everyone’s time.

The original text is below:

Given there is a large amount of cynicism in the Shetland community regarding windfarm-related “consultations” being no more than a box-ticking exercise, I would like to ask some questions, and would be grateful if you would address each one specifically and not provide a blanket statement.

1. What is the purpose of the consultation and how will the results be used?
2. What data will you be collecting to evidence the responses and what metrics will you use?
3. Will you be enabling people to submit post-event feedback?
4. How will you judge whether you should change your plans as a result of the consultation?
5. If the responses show you do not have widespread community support, will you: a) commit to making the level of change required to gain wholesale support, or b) continue anyway? (Please select one of these rather than providing a vague answer)

Linda Tait
Surrey