South Knapdale not ‘middle of nowhere’
Sir, An unnamed South Knapdale community councillor is quoted in the article headed ‘Councillors urge public to question wind farm’ in the Argyllshire Advertiser, February 24 edition. The community councillor says: ‘The entry track is 17 km over virgin ground. They [Force 9 Energy] say you cannot see the turbines from the road. Every yatchsman or someone on a ferry is going to see it full in the face. I call it an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere. It’s just upright.’
This statement ably demonstrates the conflict of interests posed between some older settlers wishing to preserve what they imagine is their ideal Argyll, and those of us who over several generations have worked hard to provide jobs and opportunity for young families; families that are economically dependent on what we can produce from the limited options available to us in remote rural areas. None of South Knapdale’s uncontested community councillors has lived in the community longer than a single crop of Sitka spruce – the industry that has transformed the landscape, largely replacing open hill farming as the dominant land use in the last 50 years.
Our own community wind farms faced similar criticism from similar community councillors. Despite this vocal opposition, the Allt Dearg and Sròndoire wind farms have been very successful, delivering many millions in local investment and more than £700k to our community partners so far. The regular bus tours and open days have largely alleviated these previous concerns, although our turbines remain visible in the distance.
As Ormsary and Stronachullin would host the majority of the access track to Force 9 Energy’s proposed wind farm, we had offered to show any interested party the access route and around our wind farms. If the unnamed community councillor had bothered to take up this offer, they perhaps would have observed (as they might do by looking at the map or aerial photograph) that for the majority of its length the wind farm track would follow existing roads – far from the ‘virgin’ wilderness, barren of jobs and economic activity, that such people perhaps imagine our land to be.
Thankfully ‘blowins’ tend to blow out in time.
Ormsary and Stronachullin are remote but far from the ‘middle of nowhere’, and we will continue our efforts to grow the industry and economic activity that provides secure employment and opportunity for our local community.
We support Force 9 Energy’s efforts to do the same.