Readers' Letters: Bin 'open door' policy on windfarms

Wind farms are an increasingly familiar sight in Scotland

If a foreigner were to look at a map of wind farms and current windfarm applications in the UK I think they would assume a helpless Scotland had had them all dumped on their glorious landscape by a Westminster Government.

I think they would find it inexplicable that a Scottish Nationalist Government had driven this policy. Even more inexplicable is that a once proudly democratic nation does not have the same rights as people in England in this regard. Vattenfall's managing director of onshore wind, Frank Elsworth, was quoted this week as saying Scotland is seen as having an “open door policy” and the kind of stable environment in terms of policy that encourages firms to develop windfarms in the country.“England has primarily pushed everything offshore,” noted Mr Elsworth, adding: “It has introduced policy which is quite a barrier to development: The requirement for demonstrable local support of over fifty per cent and demonstrating that your windfarms are captured in local development plans, they’re quite significant hurdles.”

Shouldn't locals in Scotland have the same rights? Shouldn't legally binding Local Plans which take years and consultations to prepare be adhered to? Why should local councils have to pay, out of our Council Tax, for Public Inquiries to uphold our Local Plans? A single unelected Government Reporter with Ministers’ approval with an "open door policy" decides these Inquiries. The wind industry has taken advantage of lockdown and is pushing ahead with expansion while there can be no proper public consultation or live Public Inquiries. Does rural Scotland have anyone to speak for them?

Wake up Scotland. This is your country.

Celia Hobbs, Peebles Road, Penicuik, Midlothian

Teflon twins?

I read Joyce McMillan’s article in Perspective yesterday (“Teflon Boris can’t dodge the storm clouds gathering on the world stage”), a perfect piece of opinion-led journalism. But it became apparent to me how articles such as these could be transposed to align with another political leader, different party, different views. The first instance came to me after reading: “The trick is to create low expectations for your conduct in terms both of ethics and of political competence, and to do so boldly, and with some degree of charm.” Substitute as follows, “create high expectations, with some degree of doom”.

The second: “We are living through what seems like an interminable age of Teflon Boris…. despite displays of incompetence, inconsistency and poor governance, at the height of a lethal pandemic, that would have almost certainly destroyed the career of any politician judged by normal standards”. Substitute “Teflon Nicola”. Perhaps someone could write another similar piece, using the header, “Teflon Nicola can’t dodge the storm clouds gathering on the Nationalist stage”.