Letters / Why does the government not amend planning law?
Despite powerful arguments presented by various local campaign groups across Scotland opposing wind turbine developments on justifiable grounds, the feeble response from Gillian Martin to this opposition is that it may lead to legal challenges, on planning grounds, from the electricity industry if the government didn’t process planning applications.
In deciding applications for onshore wind farms, whether the planning authority is the Scottish Government or the relevant local authority, relevant consents are required.
Wind farm moratorium not possible on legal grounds, Scottish Government says
In deciding planning applications, planning authorities are guided by the National Planning Framework 4, (NPF4), which designates wind farms with generating capacity over 50MW as national developments.
National development status does not mean that a proposed development is automatically given planning consent.
NPF4 states that when determining applications for wind turbine developments the relevant planning authority should ensure the proposals would maximise economic impact.
NPF4 states that when determining applications for wind turbine developments the relevant planning authority should ensure the proposals would minimise impacts on the surrounding landscape, environment and communities.
I wonder if Ms Martin believes that the Viking development, for example, has met these criteria?
Maree Todd MSP is quoted as saying there are three things that people agree on in relation to wind turbine developments.
The first she quotes is an agreement on the necessity for a transition to net zero, by which she presumably means a target of negating the amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activity.
I wonder how she intends to account for the greenhouse gas emissions produced through the whole process of manufacturing and operating wind turbines?
The second she quotes is an understanding of the need for energy security.
I wonder if Ms Todd is aware of the domicile of the firms that manufacture, construct and operate wind farms? Since the majority are not domiciled in the UK, how does this enable energy security?
Since her third quote accepts that opposition is not “nimbyism” and that communities and the people living within them are already dominated by the cumulative negative effect of wind turbines and the infrastructure required for them to operate, and opposition is leading to toxicity within those communities, why doesn’t government recognise this and amend planning law as it relates to electricity generation?
Leslie Sinclair
Kirkwall
