News / SNP accused of ‘cheap shots’ as election candidates row over energy projects
ELECTION candidate Hannah Mary Goodlad has been accused of taking “cheap shots” after calling on a political rival to publicly oppose the Mossy Hill wind farm.
SNP candidate Goodlad and Emma Macdonald, who is council political leader and standing for the Liberal Democrats at May’s election, have traded barbs as polling day draws nearer.
Goodlad called on Macdonald to stand against an application from Statkraft to revise the size of its consented Mossy Hill wind farm on the outskirts of Lerwick from 12 turbines to eight when it comes before councillors in the coming months.
But Macdonald pointed out she does not sit on the committee that could make the decision – and said anyone hoping to be Shetland’s MSP should “take the time to learn” this.
The crossed words come after Macdonald backed a Lib Dem motion calling for a halt to all Shetland renewable energy projects until “real community benefit” is achieved.
Her SNP counterpart said this was a “powerful line”, but “leadership requires clarity, not slogans”.
She said Shetland Islands Council had approved the lease for an ammonia plant at Scatsta “under Emma’s leadership”.
The land was “highly strategic” and in a “location right in the middle of the best renewable energy resource in Europe”, but Goodlad claimed it had been “leased out for next to nothing”.
“Where is the ‘real community benefit’ in that?” Goodlad asked.
She said that three upcoming Shetland wind farms already had full legal planning consent and reserved connections to the electricity grid.
“Attempting to overturn those consents now would mean the council going to court, with a big financial risk to all of us as taxpayers,” Goodlad said.
“We can’t pretend those projects don’t legally exist. They do.”
But in response, Macdonald said it was “hypocritical” of the SNP candidate to criticise the Scatsta agreement “given that it secured the exact same rate of community benefit endorsed by the SNP government”.
“We made the best deal we could in the circumstances but it was precisely the SNP’s lack of effort in setting community benefit rates that reduced our leverage to secure more,” Macdonald said.
“It was the SNP government who imposed Viking on Shetland without getting meaningful community benefit for local people. It was the SNP which threw away billions of pounds in the ScotWind auctions, selling off our seabed for pennies.
“It is typical of the SNP that they can mishandle these massive projects on the national level, then take cheap shots at local communities for doing the best we can under the system that they put in place.”
Goodlad has urged Macdonald to publicly stand against the Mossy Hill wind farm, saying the situation sits locally.
“Come on, Emma, this is a decision the SIC can take now,” she said.
“As its political leader, show us you really are prepared to push back on Shetland renewables until we see more real community value.”
However council political leader Macdonald said that she does “not sit on that committee”.
“I would hope that anyone hoping to be Shetland’s MSP would take the time to learn that it is the members of the planning committee who will make the decision on Mossy Hill,” she said.
“The chair of planning is an SNP councillor so I would have thought this would have been fairly easy to find out – I am a little surprised that she did not think to ask him.
“More broadly, our community lives under a planning system that has been controlled by the SNP for 19 years – there is only so much that we can do with the legacy they have left us.”
The Mossy Hill wind farm – planned on land near Lerwick and Scalloway – received planning consent from councillors for twelve 145m turbines in 2019.
However, after acquiring the development from Peel Energy in 2023, Statkraft has since revised the design to reduce the number of turbines to eight, with an application for the variation going into Shetland Islands Council recently.
The dispute comes just one day after Goodlad accused the local Liberal Democrats of being “utterly obsessed” with the SNP after claiming her party was mentioned 18 times in a recent election leaflet.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
