Tag Archives: Wind Farms

Our AGM and Splendid Afternoon Tea

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Wine glasses

It was great to see so many faces at our AGM on Sunday. Our Chair, Glen Heggs, welcomed everyone and, after everyone had got a cup of tea or glass of wine, Glen listed the 6 wind farm proposals which would impact this area: Knockkippen, Sclenteuch, Knockcronal, Carrick, Clauchrie and Craiginmoddie. A total of 79 turbines, the majority at a whopping 200m high. Also nearby is Knockodhar south of Barr which alone consists of 32 turbines at 200m high.

Despite the potential destruction of huge swathes of our beautiful countryside and the impacts on nearby residents the meeting was remarkably convivial and upbeat. It was great to get together again and to meet fellow supporters. Speakers from Waterside, Dailly and near Clauchrie gave their thoughts on how the proposals would impact the area and shared their valuable experience on responding to applications and participating in public inquiries.

After the update on the wind farm situation in the area Glen Heggs introduced the business part of the meeting which was in accordance with the agenda which had been circulated and principally to elect a chair, vice chair, treasurer and committee. The minutes of the last AGM in March 2019 had been circulated and this was the first opportunity to have an AGM following the easing of covid restrictions. It also coincided with an upturn in wind farm activity so the timing was opportune.

Chris Johnston gave the treasurer’s report. There had been little activity on the account since the last AGM and the bank balance was a little over £3,000. It was noted that this would not pay for much professional input if required for the imminent objections.

Glen Heggs agreed to stay on as Chair in the interim. Bea Holden remains vice chair. Lala Burchall Nolan and Tom Dowman have stepped down from the Committee. Sandy Millar and Chris Johnston are staying on as members and are joined by John Ross.

We are looking for more supporters to come forward to help. We need a Treasurer and someone to help with our website (woefully out of date!) and social media. If you have knowledge of ornithology, ecology, archaeology, hydrology, tourism, hill walking we’d love to hear from you. Apart from the role of Treasurer you do not need to formally join the Committee but can simply be co-opted to help out when required. Thanks to all those who have already volunteered their help, it is much appreciated.

mince pie

A huge thank you to Jeanette Heggs for a simply delicious afternoon tea. Single-handedly Jeanette supplied individual boxes with home-made sandwiches, cakes and mince pies to attendees. A great idea as it doubled as a doggy bag.

Thank you to all those who donated and bought raffle tickets. £149.20 was raised and will be put to good use in getting professional help in our responses.

Sharon Dowey, MSP meets with members of Save Straiton

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We recently had a virtual meeting with Sharon Dowey, one of the list MSPs for the South of Scotland. She was interested to hear our concerns regarding the renewed threat of inappropriately sited wind farms developments near Straiton and surrounding communities.
To fully understand the issues she is planning a visit to see the areas which would be impacted.

Allan Dorans, MP has also become aware of the deep concerns communities have over wind farm proposals in the area and has contacted us along with others to get a sense of the problems faced by local residents.

It is great to see our representatives responding to the deeply-felt beliefs that local people have that these new wind farm proposals would have a hugely detrimental impact on our lives, our health and our precious landscapes.

Sharon is a member of the cross party group in the Scottish Parliament on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

18 turbines at 200m high in the Galloway Forest Park is unacceptable

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ScottishPower Renewables have submitted an application for the first of their proposed wind farms in the Galloway Forest Park.

Clauchrie is between Barr and Glentrool and consists of 18 turbines at a whopping 200m high. They will be clearly visible from the Straiton walks and have serious negative impacts on the landscape, Wild Land, Biosphere, Dark Sky Park plus other walks and cycle routes. This has implications for residents and visitors to Straiton. We are busy studying the application in detail and will let you know how you can make your representations.

Environmentally responsible or just a litter lout?

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benquhat

This photograph was taken recently and shows the remains of an anemometer mast lying near the summit of Benbeoch Hill near Dalmellington. We think this was used in scoping for the Burnhead Wind farm but now lies abandoned on the moor land. We wonder if this is normal practice, surely a truly environmental business would not leave scrap lying on a hillside?

Then again…

Linfairn – make sure your objection points are counted

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Figure A6.12.23b - Viewpoint 23.cdr

Many of you who had objected to Linfairn have received letters from Liz Kerr of the Department of Planning and Appeals to say that although they have a record of your objection they do not have the content. You are invited to resubmit your original objection or supply a new one by 14 September.

It is entirely possible you don’t remember the points you made as there have so many developments to object to. Click here to view a list of points we produced for those wishing to object by email and by post card. Select the ones you feel are the most important to you (by all means copy the whole lot) and email them to liz.kerr@gov.scot

We will be asking for an extension to the deadline as we believe it is not long enough, particularly as many might well be on holiday.

There is to be a public inquiry held to look at the Linfairn proposal, we’ll let you know when the date is announced.

Thanks for your continued support.

Have you been acknowledged?

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If you’ve objected to Knockskae wind farm you ought to have received an acknowledgement from South Ayrshire Council. If you haven’t it could be that they have not received your objection, we’ve heard of some folks who’ve had to email three times before receiving an acknowledgment. Please persevere!

The Council continues to accept representations right up to the point they make their own report. We don’t know when that will be but it hasn’t happened yet.

If you have friends, family, neighbours and colleagues who you know would like to object to the ruination of our precious countryside please tell them to do so. We all need to do our bit to protect this beautiful corner of Scotland.

 

Click here and object to Knockskae Wind Farm now.

Enough is Enough

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Ayrshire hasn’t escaped the realities of climate change this winter, Storm Frank brought devastation to our communities and flooding to homes, farms and fields. We all have to do our bit to save the planet.

But did you know that Ayrshire is already doing ten times more than the rest of the country?

Across the UK as a whole there is one wind turbine for every ten thousand people. Here in Ayrshire it’s more like one per thousand. If Knockskae Wind Farm was allowed to go ahead, together with the four other proposals that threaten our community, the picturesque parish of Straiton could end up with one giant industrial turbine for every three residents.

Ayrshire is already doing more, much more, than it’s ‘fair share’ and the Scottish Government is already over-achieving on its renewables targets.

We say: “enough is enough”.

We need to protect what’s left of the beautiful scenery in our corner of Scotland. We need to protect the Merrick Wild Land Area from being irretrievably undermined, the Unesco Biosphere from being plundered and the Dark Sky Park from any more light pollution

We need to protect the jobs and small businesses that rural tourism supports.

We need to protect our homes – disturbing the peat and deforesting the hillsides to plant wind farms will only serve to reduce the ability of our hills and river valleys to cope with next winter’s storms. The thousands of heavy constructions vehicles thundering through conservation villages will cause severe vibration in centuries-old cottages, never built to withstand such an onslaught.

Please tell Ayrshire Council that ‘enough is enough’. The people of Ayrshire have already done more than the rest of the country, we simply can’t afford to give away any more of our countryside.

Click here and object to Knockskae Wind Farm now.

We want your views!

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Mail1South Ayrshire Council are in the process of producing guidance for wind farm development. Earlier they invited comments on a range of wind farm issues to shape this guidance. We’ve looked at some of the comments and note that quite a number of developers took part to get their point of view across. Some of those views include “an arbitrary 2km should not be drawn round each settlement”, “Landscape Character 17b is only appropriate for turbines 50-70m in height however this has been shown to be too conservative” It’s hardly surpsrising that these were made by RES who want to erect 149m turbines less than 2km from Waterside and Patna!

There are many other examples where developers appear to have a blatant disregard for communities, our precious landscape, planning guidance and the landscape study by SNH.

Please follow the link here to view the draft guidance. The team at Save Straiton are producing a comprehensive response to this draft and we would appreciate your views as well. Even if you only want to comment on one aspect of the draft guidance which you feel strongly about please let us know – and leave your own comment too of course!

Developers are using this opportunity to get their views across and have guidance written in their favour We must get our message to the Council: 2km is the very minimum distance from homes (turbines are very much larger than a few years ago), light flicker and noise must be assessed properly, river valleys should be protected, the Landscape Capacity Study should be strictly adhered to and most importantly individual homes should be given the same status as villages. There are many other issues of course but we feel these are some of the most critical.

We’re looking forward to receiving your comments.

 

Enjoy mulled wine, mince pies and our annual general meeting

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7pm, Thursday 4th December, McCandlish Hall, Straiton

SSfS AGM 14 Flyer

Join us for a sociable evening and enjoy some mulled wine and mince pies. The evening will open at 7pm with refreshments and a chance to catch up with friends followed by the meeting which will run for an hour and incorporate an update on the campaign plus the ‘formal’ annual general meeting.

Look forward to seeing you there.

“a step too far” says Chic Brodie MSP

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Chic Brodie, MSP for South of Scotland and a member of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee visited Straiton yesterday and met with the Save Straiton for Scotland campaign group. Bill Steven (pictured far right) explained in detail about the proposals surrounding the village. Chic expressed his concern saying “I am generally in favour of wind farms in the right place. The suggestion and proposals to surround Straiton and to ‘invade’ the valley may be a step too far. The developers, particularly those very close to the village may want to reappraise their proposals.”