The proposed Clachan Wind Farm

[Pentlandpirate]

Ridiculous! Firms paid to shut down wind farms when the wind is blowing

See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy ... owing.html

[MonaLott]

That's an absolute scandal, PP, and just shows how uselessly variable wind energy is. What a waste of public money, subsidising this primitive technology.
I'm also very concerned about the impact of construction of the damn things. Quoting from the consumer website http://www.cus.net/renewableenergy/subc ... /wind.html
"the construction of a large wind energy facility is also far from ecologically benign in previously undeveloped locations. It requires wide straight flat roads, a large hole filled with tons of steel and concrete to secure each giant assembly, clearing of trees in wooded areas and a transformer and power lines for each turbine." What an upheaval in a scenic tourist area. We're just recovering on Seil from years of living in construction chaos with our new water and sewage systems plus the current spate of new home-building. At least these had worthy objectives which didn't totally ruin the natural resources but this wind-farm monstrosity will destroy our scenery, our tranquillity and our wildlife, all for the owner's financial gain, thanks largely to these damn silly subsidies.

[Pentlandpirate]

One victory for common sense. The tide is turning:

http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/new ... _farm.html

[mcvrecken]

We need to pull together and oppose the planning application for a 50m anemometer (weather mast) on Clachan. There are only 13 days left before the deadline and we need a lot more objections for anything to be stopped. Apparently the Kilmelford community will get most of the income if the windfarm does go ahead so there's another reason for Seil residents to oppose this if there weren't enough already!

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/PublicAcc ... ZJVCH0CN00

[NickB]

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The form in the link does not work - it returns the message:

An error occured while attempting to send an email containing your comments to Argyll & Bute Council. Error description: The server rejected one or more recipient addresses. The server response was: 501 5.1.3 Invalid address ,System.Web

Your comments are reproduced below to allow you to take a copy and submit it by post.

Still, no reason for the council to make it easy to object . . . so long as they give the appearance.

[mcvrecken]

We should register complaints about the online system not working.

E-mail FAO Fiona Scott:

planning.olandi@argyll-bute.gov.uk

I tried too and it came up with the same error message. We need to make sure all the objections get through. Probably best to send by post.

[Pentlandpirate]

What's up with Rory Young? On his website blog he wrote, "Please feel free to use this blog as some where you can discuss any issues or ask questions relating to Clachan wind farm".

But recently Mr Young doesn't seem to want to discuss any issues or answer any questions about the proposed Clachan Wind Farm. Instead post after post submitted to his blog is being deleted by him.

Asked why he is deleting posts, and how many posts he has already deleted....and all he does is delete the question!

You can't help but get the feeling this man is a lot less community spirited than he might wish you to believe.

[NickB]

What's up with Rory Young? On his website blog he wrote, "Please feel free to use this blog as some where you can discuss any issues or ask questions relating to Clachan wind farm".
But recently Mr Young doesn't seem to want to discuss any issues or answer any questions about the proposed Clachan Wind Farm. Instead post after post submitted to his blog is being deleted by him.

Asked why he is deleting posts, and how many posts he has already deleted....and all he does is delete the question!

You can't help but get the feeling this man is a lot less community spirited than he might wish you to believe.

I think Mr. Young only wants to hear opinions which support his project. Bad news for him then that he apparently hasn't approved a reply since June 20th. I too have posted on his blog but not had my reply 'approved'. Makes the way I run this place look pretty liberal

As for 'community spirited' - Mr. Young was recently awarded Scottish Rural Development Programme cash to the tune of over half a million pounds to help establish two 16,000 bird egg units. Previously he secured substantial funding from Scottish Enterprise to help establish his Christmas tree farming business. He has now seen an opportunity with the current government subsidy for wind generated electricity to plug into some more public money. It's just business - looks to me as though Mr. Young will 'diversify' any old way he can if there is a handout involved.

Rory Young, you are welcome to reply and state your case on here - your posts do not have to be pre-approved and I promise they will not be deleted or molested in any way provided they abide by the published terms and conditions of this forum. If you really do have an interest in the local community this might be an appropriate time and place for you to enter into a dialogue, on neutral territory where you do not make the rules.

[Minimum]

Did Mr Young actually establish two egg units and an Xmas tree farm?

[novus ordo seclorum]

[quote="NickB"]Mr. Young was recently awarded Scottish Rural Development Programme cash to the tune of over half a million pounds to help establish two 16,000 bird egg units. Previously he secured substantial funding from Scottish Enterprise to help establish his Christmas tree farming business. He has now seen an opportunity with the current government subsidy for wind generated electricity to plug into some more public money. It's just business - looks to me as though Mr. Young will 'diversify' any old way he can if there is a handout involved.
[/quote]
Careful Nick, my friend.
You're in danger of crossing into libel territory here with you "facts" and your imprecations.
Let's keep it clean.
Have you made your anti-windfarm website yet? that's the way forward. Then posters around the place. Then public meetings.
NoS
ps your invitation to Rory Young to debate with you on here presupposes he actually comes to this forum, and then sees any need to do debate with the half dozen or so who post on here. He has an obligation to discuss the windfarm plans with just two bodies:
Argyll and Bute Planning Department.
Kilninver and Kilmelford Community Council.
He has no obligation to Seil or Seil Comm Council.

[NickB]

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Thansk for your concern NOS, but please don't worry about me - I can look after myself. You have raised some interesting points which I fear could cloud the issue, so I have taken the time to respond in some detail.

libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false.

The fact that Mr. young has received grants from publicly funded bodies is neither defamatory or false and is a matter of easily accessible public record, so our legal department advises me I do not have any worries on that score.
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references:

http://www.farminguk.com/news/Grants-he ... 18707.html
http://www.strengthenyourbusiness.com/CaseStudies

(obtained by typing the queries 'rory young egg grant' and 'rory young christmas tree grant' into Google)
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My observation that it looks as though Mr. Young has a ready eye for available grants is merely an opinion, one which could even be seen as in some circles as expressing admiration for a sharp businessman - I believe we are still allowed to express opinions freely in this country? (And I think you meant implications, not imprecations, which are different beasties altogether)

As to whether or not Mr. Young is aware of this site - well I am sure he is. He has shown himself to be pretty web-savvy, and typing Clachan Wind Farm into Google brings this thread up no.1 Of course he has no obligation whatsoever to respond here, and I did not imply that he did. He has very few obligations to the local community and AFAIK he has been scrupulous about fulfilling those he does have. That is why it was an invitation, not a demand. I have to say that I did not expect him to respond, but you never know.

Re. websites - I said previously that I would be happy to provide a site for any group leading a campaign against this development. I did not say that I would form or lead such a group, let alone that I would be a one man protest movement. There is the nucleus of such a website, but until I am contacated by people willing to provide content and a non-virtual framework in the real world I do not intend to take it any further. There are many who are more closely affected by this than me, and it is up to them to do something.

I trust this answers all your concerns. If you are interested in spearheading a campaign yourself then please get in touch and we can get down to some serious planning re. the website, but until someone does it will languish unseen.

On another related matter, does anyone know why the Argyll Windfarm Group's website has been down for a month now?

[Pentlandpirate]

....and if you see him around, let him know what you think, http://www.strengthenyourbusiness.com/c ... isters.pdf (it takes a while to open up)

(You would think with the mobile technology he would want to erecta phone mast.)

Are we certain we are talking about the same Rory Young? You got to admire him for knowing how to USE / MILK the system.

[novus ordo seclorum]

[quote="NickB"][color=#FFFFFF].[/color]
our legal department advises me I do not have any worries on that score.
[/quote]
Good grief ! Shows how wrong one can be. I always thought that you were a one-man band operating out of a bedroom ! I never realised that yours is a big outfit employing its own legal department. Things must be pretty lucrative in the web business up here. Good to hear, I must say, of a success business story on Seil employing local (presumably?) people. Where are your offices now?

So, enough fawning. I think PentlandPirate asks a very valid question.....are you certain that the Rory Young who you are investigating is the same Rory Young involved in the Clachan windfarm project? Both "Rory" and "Young" are very common scottish names and your investigations seem to have found information on a Rory Young who lives/operates many hundreds of miles from here. I thought our Rory Young had very strong family and farming connections with Luing and Seil?

Sorry I can't accept your offer of joining you in spearheading a campaign. Unfortunately I am a little bit too busy at the moment and, anyway, I have no idea what "content and a non-virtual framework in the real world" is. Also, like you I feel " There are many who are more closely affected by this than me, and it is up to them to do something".

[NickB]

.
Yes, it is the same Rory Young.

[mcvrecken]

Rory Young is from Dumfries. His farm down there was originally based around livestock, but he has since added a christmas tree business, with the help of government subsidies, and an egg laying facility for which he also received government funding to the tune of half a million pounds.

He does have family connections with Luing. His grandfather was one of three founders of the farm there and helped to develop Luing cattle. Rory Young used to be a business partner but decided to break the partnership, risking a number of local jobs, so that he could be the sole owner of Clachan and push forward his plans to erect a windfarm unopposed by the other partner, again, with significant government funding.

He has a rally team, which I don't think many people would consider to be an environmentally friendly sport! http://www.scottishrally.co.uk/

[mcvrecken]

* It should be qualified that it appears he broke the partnership in order to put the wind farm up. There are no facts to support this but it does look like this is what his aim was given that he started getting the plans together for the wand farm back in 2008.

[oldgit]

I think getting your knickers twisted about government grants for wind farms is just tilting at windmills. Scottish agriculture received £600m in subsidies last year. Four farmers received over £1m individually. Landowners worth hundreds of millions got huge handouts from tax payers. You don’t even have to produce food to receive payments these days. However, agricultural subsidies play a crucial role in maintaining rural communities and the landscape though there must surely be fairer and more economic ways to do these things. So, at least superficially, using tax payers money to speed up renewable energy provision seems sensible.

http://www.robedwards.com/2010/05/revea ... aires.html

Burning coal, gas and oil to produce electricity is ultimately doomed as the resources dwindle. Even if you don’t think that greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause of global warming, it does seem foolish to change the composition of our atmosphere as it is the only one we’ve got. The two main problems with wind generation as I see it are: firstly the unreliability of supply and the need for back-up generating capacity and secondly visual impact. Surely there are enough sites where visual impact is less important. I drive often past the biggest on-shore wind farm in Europe (Whitelee on the Eaglesham Moor) and think how much better the place looks for 140 turbines (another 69 to be built over the next 2 years giving total capacity 600MW). Only 20 minutes from Glasgow yet no great campaign against it - in fact a thriving visitor centre.

http://whiteleewindfarm.co.uk/

I think the government should be more selective about sites for wind farms with subsidies available only for places like Eaglesham Moor. Otherwise, Scotland will be blighted by small wind farms on every hill. I don’t blame landowners for seeking grants, but I do blame the government for making them available for very small farms in places like Clachan.

[Pentlandpirate]

Rory Young has now updated his blog:

http://www.westcoastrenewables.co.uk/hello-world/

and Nick B is correct about the huge grants for the christmas trees and poultry developments.

[novus ordo seclorum]

[quote="Pentlandpirate"]Rory Young has now updated his blog:

http://www.westcoastrenewables.co.uk/hello-world/

and Nick B is correct about the huge grants for the christmas trees and poultry developments.[/quote]
Thanks, I've just read the latest entries.
To be honest its embarrasing.
The Planning Application will only only be turned down on Planning grounds. Nothing else. To make personal attacks on the character of the landowner and on his legitimate business model is, in my view, senseless. His character and other businesses have no bearing on the Application. Its like a couple of the objection letters which objected on the grounds of absentee landlordism.
Action like this merely detracts from and dilutes the genuine planning concerns.
Like I said before. Lets keep it clean and focus only on genuine Planning objections.
And, why NickB did you copy your blog entry entirely from the previous one?
I see that Mr Young is organising a meeting in Kilmelfort on Saturday week. Now that is the place to get our voice heard, but it may be only for parishioners of Kilninver and Kilmelfort within which Clachan Farm is located. Need to check. Very clever sequence in the agenda for that meeting I thought.

[Pentlandpirate]

And, why NickB did you copy your blog entry entirely from the previous one?

Despite what Rory Young says some posts to his blog only showed briefly before disappearing off the blog. Whether this was something Rory Young was able to control or due to a site error/function it is impossible to know. But if Nick was like me he probably repeated a post after the first disappeared, only for the 'disappeared' one to re-appear later.