Has a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) been carried out for each sector within the Renewable Energy Strategy?
If not why not – SEA legislation comes into force this year but other Strategies have already gone through the process. Consideration of cumulative and synergistic effects is a requirement under this Directive and this would lead to a significant improvement in the way wind farms are considered. Biodiversity Our main concerns relate to the fact that we live in an area of outstanding beauty with lochs, internationally renowned peatlands, coastal cliffs and low-intensity agricultural land all of which teams with wildlife and birds. Many of the species are rare and protected and their habitats are designated as Natura 2000 sites under EU Directives. In such areas the precautionary principle should apply yet wildlife interests appear not to be given adequate consideration by developers. As an example, the Loch Calder Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is near our home. It is also adjacent to one of the proposals for a wind farm. The geese, swans (for which the site is notified) and
