MP CALLS FROM SCOTTISH GOVERNENT TO LISTEN TO CONCERNS OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS

Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown has called for the Scottish Government to listen to local community council concerns over wind farms in the region.

This comes after 50 community councils from across Dumfries and Galloway wrote to the First Minister demanding a moratorium on any further planning consent to wind farms. The community councils are requesting that the Scottish Government provides the council and local communities with sufficient time and resources to make impartial assessment of the pros and cons of the large number of wind farms proposed.

Commenting on the letter to Alex Salmond, Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown said:

“This is a wakeup call to Alex Salmond and the SNP Government. People in Dumfries and Galloway are sick and tired of the SNP Government’s relentless obsession with industrialising rural Dumfries and Galloway with wind farm after wind farm. I believe there is a place for wind energy but this needs to be part of a mixed energy policy. The Scottish Government believe the solution to our energy challenge is to carpet huge sways of our countryside in wind farms. This actually undermines the case for wind farms because it simply causes resentment from local communities as we can see by this backlash. Unfortunately, local councillors hands are tied as they have to follow the Scottish Government’s planning guidance on wind farms and even when they turn down an application, more often than not the Scottish Government simply overturn the decision on appeal”