In what we believe may be a first, ‘concerned local residents’ have submitted objections (3.2 MB PDF) to Bute Community Council regarding a planning application that hasn’t even been made yet!
©The Buteman
Buteman reporting suggests that around 30 people attended the meeting and many were anti-wind objectors.
We hear from others present that a ‘Furious Fifteen’ or so formed the core of this objectional group.
While apparently ‘very scared’ at the prospect of a large ‘moving’ installation the objections raised are in fact typical for an anti-wind campaign: tourism, birds, health scares and visual impact.
Of more concern is the apparent attempt to get the three elected local Councillors (Isobel Strong, Len Scouller, Robert MacIntyre) from Argyll & Bute Council – present at the Bute Community Council meeting – to comment on the unlodged ‘application’ which would have prevented them from making further comments either For or Against to the Council’s Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee in due course.
To their credit the Councillors declined to rise to the bait!
For those prepared to wait, the Environmental Impact Assessment into the community wind energy project at Ascog Farm is in the final stages of production.
As opposed to the 40 pages of ‘cut and paste’ anti-wind hysteria from our objectors (3.2 MB PDF) it will comprise a several hundred page report which is the result of around a year and a half of impartial study into what the impacts of turbines at Ascog Farm might be.
The EIA documents – which will be lodged with Argyll & Bute Council shortly – will provide objective information which should form the basis for a reasoned assessment of the scheme.