Is it Government policy which is driving the expansion of windfarm developments?
Our Government is clearly backing moves to reduce, or at least try to limit CO2 emmissions, because of the effect on global warming. The Scottish Executive expects councils, and developers of renewable energy alike, to take account of its policy guidance in a document called NPPG6. It wants to see renewable energy developed in various ways, while avoiding a detrimental impact on nearby residents and landscape quality. This tends to set up local conflicts. It is very common in Scotland for windfarm applications to be refused by local councils, after which the power companies appeal and force a public enquiry. Clatto Hill is by no means the only place in Scotland facing ever larger turbines ever closer to where people live. The UK Government has set the goal of a 20% reduction in CO2 omissions by the year 2010. The Scottish Executive is looking for 17% – 18% of the electricity generated in Scotland to be from renewables, using “the Renewables Obligation”.
