Chamber and committees

James Tanner submission of 9 June 2021

PE1864/W - Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore windfarms

I believe this petition makes clear sense and I support it wholeheartedly.

When windfarms are proposed they are often backed by—

• the owners of the land, who will receive huge rents for hosting the wind farms;

• developers, who are often private equity and other deep pocketed For-Profit entities; and of course

• the Operators, which are massive companies such as EDF or SSE.

When public enquires happen, the locals are almost always out-powered and sometimes even outnumbered. The proposers come with sufficient material, pictures, speakers, etc. many over-bearing and the local communities have nothing to counter what is being presented and little opportunity to professionally challenge.

Local communities do not have the funds nor the know how – they need the help the petition demands.

And often there are incentives involved, particularly – it seems - from the electricity operators who often throw in £15-20,000 per year (or more) to build a local community centre, upgrade a playing field, provide funds for apprenticeship programs, etc. To the local communities this all sounds wonderful and is effectively encourages them to go along with the scheme which they often do not fully understand. They do not understand how to challenge the scheme nor the damage the windfarm may cause for the next 30+ years.

The actual costs to the local community could be multiples of any incentive. For instance, windfarms are a known deterrent to Holiday Makers – they appear now on Ordinance Survey Maps and no-one wants to come to the Scottish Highlands to stay opposite or around a vista covered with turbine blades. At circa £600/week for a self-catering unit, £20k a year from a company to the community is equal to 33 lost weeks a year. So, if there are say 15 self-catering units operating in the area of view, their share of the £20k a year is equal to only 2 weeks lost and, I believe, they will each lose a lot more than 2 weeks a year.

The devastation on the tourist trade will also likely be multiples of any funding to the community. It will affect the spending at the local SPAR, the local pub, and local shops – all leading to losses of employment.

Why should electricity companies be allowed to give money to local communities to get them to go along with schemes which will likely cost them more money, loss of jobs and cause a negative impact on their own quality of life – seeing and hearing whizzing turbines, sometimes interrupted by the slicing of birds passing through the area.

To me, it seems unethical that developers are allowed to give money to local communities as part of the planning process. If the operators and developers are allowed to do this, I believe that the Government should offer the same amount of money or goods, whether in the form of a new community centre, apprenticeships, etc, and to say to the community that this offer is firm whether or whether NOT you agree to the wind farm scheme.

I STRONGLY SUPPORT THIS PETITION AND BELIEVE THAT ALL ON-SHORE WINDFARM DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVALS SHOULD BE CEASED UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT AFFORDS LOCAL COMMUNITIES WITH THE SUPPORT WHICH THE PETITION DEMENDS.