The proposed Clachan Wind Farm

[Pentlandpirate]

Let's see how community minded Mr Young is.

It seems the wind farm would make an ideal site for a mobile telephone mast, so that Seil and the local area can be linked to the rest of the world. Let him provide that.

The road is another vital link to the island. Let him pay for resurfacing and upgrading the road from Kilninver through to Easdale.

And free power for all in the area, with standby power generators based on the island to keep the supply going should the grid supply be cut due to storms or equipment failure.

What else would be on the community 'wish list'?

[Jo 66]

Being married to someone who was born and bred on Seil, I find myself wondering how many of you "locals" are actually in a position to slag off this "in comer" whose family moved away from Luing but yet continued to provide employment and housing for forty years????

[longshanks]

Well said "Jo 66". I totally agree with you
ps I knew your brother "90"
pps Strikes me that those who are doing the slagging etc are very recent "incomers" themselves. In one particular case the opposition to the windfarm and the landowner is not driven by anything other than envy that someone else is going to make a little money out of something which benefits the planet. Hypocritical and sad....and pure envy really.
As I said. Well said; "Jo 69"......add three out of respect.
ppps I'm still against the windfarm (for scientific reasons) but am pragmatic about it to the extent that I see benefits in terms of jobs and cash for Seil.

[Minimum]

Do you really think there'll be jobs for Seil? Gosh! How many?

[Seil Blubber]

Strikes me that those who are doing the slagging etc are very recent "incomers" themselves. In one particular case the opposition to the windfarm and the landowner is not driven by anything other than envy that someone else is going to make a little money out of something which benefits the planet. Hypocritical and sad....and pure envy really.

Who is this Longshanks? Do please name names, I think we should be told. Are you a lifelong Seil resident yourself?

[MonaLott]

Well done to the Lorn Wind Farm Action Group for distributing such an excellent letter for any of us objectors to the Raera proposal to send off. If Raera is approved, Clachan will be a shoe in. My letter is offsky, with thanks to whoever's on the action group and had the nous and oomph to compose and distribute that flyer and letter.

[canUsmellthat]

Pft...zzz what a bunch of plebs...

[Pentlandpirate]

Pft...zzz what a bunch of plebs...

Canusmellthat........what makes you say that?

[Beetlejuice]

If anyone out there knows who's part of the Windfarm Action Group, could you ask them to check their e-mails ... ?

[Crazyhorse]

I am confused to say the least, all this talk of farmers not farming the land ??? The community not needing money ??? the locals objecting ????

As a fifth generation local who has moved away ( does this put me on a par with the aforementioned Mr Young I wonder ?) or does it simply mean i can't afford to buy property on Seil, due to the fact that prices are grossly inflated due to incoming finance from the South of the country.....mmmmmm let me think !

Surely the young locals would benefit from some community project generating revenue that could be pumped into affordable housing schemes, etc....

As far as farmers not farming the land, I deduce that Pentlandpirate has never encountered a real farmer,at least not a west coast hill farmer, it's not about farming the land, you should have headed east for that mate. A real west coast farmer is a person with the love of the livestock he keeps on the land coursing through his veins, who goes out in all weathers, at all times, sometimes around the clock to tend his beasts.....farming is a life....not a career.

I also have to add that in all the many times that I have meandered the Clachan hills, I certainly haven't seen many of you lot up there......so why take the hump about the proposed windfarm.......??????

[Pentlandpirate]

Crazyhorse, you're wrong....farming goes back in my family four generations in the Highlands and I repeat that for decades now farming has become a matter of farming the system for its subsidies and grants not necessarily farming the land for maximum food production. Where that system used to offer incentives to grow rapeseed or flax, set aside land or grow Christmas trees, I note with disdain that so many farmers are tempted by the latest easy money offered by erecting wind farms on their land. Indeed my own godfather has one of the largest windfarms in Scotland on his land.

Of the onshore windfarms I hate them all, they are horrible and are a terrible destruction of the beauty of our landscapes. They are inefficient and 'planning' for them is a joke. They are out of control. Absolutely no way are they a tourist attraction!

And who thinks this idea to donate one of the turbines to the local community is such a great idea, specially for Seil? Go look at so many of the other applications for windfarms elsewhere in Scotland and you'll see they all offer the same 'bribe'. Would Seil folk sink so low to accept a 'bribe' and let someone else run off with the real benefits? Another thing you'll notice is that so many of the people who want a windfarm on their land don't live there. In other words they don't have to wake up in the morning and see these things flashing and swishing on their horizon. You see, they are NIMBYs too.

[mcvrecken]

The only person to benefit from the windfarm on Clachan is Mr Young. The only thing he is interested in is making money. He could not give a hoot about the local people. The incentive he is providing for the community to buy into the scheme and share in the benefit is a joke as it doesn't come close to compensating us for the loss in value of our homes, loss of tourists to the area and the eyesore and noise pollution we'll have to put up with every day.

He's not interested in saving the planet either. I saw on the news that he has a rally team and races regularly. Hardly a carbon neutral sport!

I can't see many long term jobs for locals being created as a non local contractor would be used for a project like this. Also, if Mr Young was so interested in creating local jobs why did he dissolve a partnership that was employing more people than it would after being split.

Current estimates show that it would take more than 25 years for a turbine to put the energy back into the grid that it took to make it. With the current technology a turbine is not expected to last for that long so why build them?

[Pentlandpirate]

Well said.

You may be interested to read replies to comments on Mr youngs blog at http://www.westcoastrenewables.co.uk/hello-world/

He obviously chose his powers of moderation to delete my last reply

[mcvrecken]

Just had a wee look on the website. What a load of rubbish this Rory Young talks. Justifying the windfarm because the farm isn't making any money?! If he can't trun a profit from the farm with all the subsidies he'll be getting then he must be a pretty poor businessman. We all know the real reason for him wanting a windfarm and I find it insulting that he thinks he can pull the wool over our eyes.

[Pentlandpirate]

I don't know why he chose to delete my addition to his blog.

Is it because I asked him whether the profit from the 'donated' turbine would ever compensate for the cummulative down valuing of islanders homes in the area?

Is it because I suggested an easier way to achieve his two goals of creating a greater financial return to himself and yet benefit the community would be to sell some of his land at a price that gave a pot of money to him, yet was low enough to help islanders get more affordable housing, rather than blighting the area with an ugly, inefficient wind farm which only generates power at huge cost?

Or is it because I asked if he had considered the 'cost' to his family and himself of lost friendships and being hated in the area because he would consider to do something against the wishes of his neighbours in the local community?

[Seventhseil]

" cummulative down valuing of islanders homes " congratulations PP for stating the elephant in the room.........

[Pentlandpirate]

Whatever he is planning on doing, it amounts to UNSOCIABLE BEHAVIOUR wouldn't you say?

[Maggie]

sell some of his land at a price that gave a pot of money to him, yet was low enough to help islanders get more affordable housing,

Bit silly of me, I suppose, but you're confusing me now.
A thought the overwhelming opinion round here was that house prices are far too high on the back of the inflated house price boom of the last ten years, boosted by the influx of incomers.
Surely it would be a good thing if house prices round here fell dramatically to the more realistic, old levels. Then we would have affordable housing again.
As for your suggestion with covering the land with new housing which will totally destroy the ecosystems and the landscape and will be there for ever as opposed to a dozen small windmills which will be removed after 25 years. Well, I'm lost for words.

[Pentlandpirate]

The difference is that there are very strict planning regulations that determine where houses are built, how tall they are and how they are styled and built. New housing has to blend with the character of the landscape. New housing will not have the same visual or environmental impact as a wind farm.

For some crazy eco-friendly reason virtually none of the above planning criteria apply to wind farms and allow a developer or landowner to selfishly spoil the environment for whole communities.

Does everyone take Seil for granted? Do they not see the beauty in the place? I would hate it if I heard in the future that people started to wake up in the morning, open the curtains and say, "By God what the f--- has happened to this place. How the hell could we let it happen?" I would hate it because by then it would be too late.

This development benefits no one but Mr Young and his Energy industry backers. If Mr Young has decided getting up on a cold and wet morning to feed the animals is too much like hard work he should give up his land to someone who can use it the way it was supposed to be.

[mcvrecken]

Maggie, it's an interesting point you make about house prices. You are quite right that locals are being priced out of the market and that generally property prices are too high in the area which is a real issue. However, justifying the wind farm because it would lower property prices is the wrong way of dealing with it. Affordable housing is a separate issue and should be dealt with by the council.