Power struggle

There are now countless numbers of enormous (and not so huge) wind turbines blighting even the most stunning parts of our astonishing landscapes.

In the drive to reduce our carbon footprint as a nation, we have built wind farms all over the place regardless, coincidentally, of their own impact on our exceptional natural environment.

I have long championed the Cruachan power plant on Loch Awe as a brilliant example of what we should be doing – and its construction dates back to the 1950s. Built into the bowels of Ben Cruachan, just a few miles from Oban, it is invisible, clean and green. I’m not an engineer and can’t claim to understand the finer points of its operation, but basically it will produce renewable energy ad infinitum as long as it rains in Scotland.

It will not surprise you, therefore, that I fully support the plan by Cruachan’s owner Drax to develop the operation by building a second pumped storage hydro plant.

Argyll and Bute Council has agreed to “object to the current proposals unless conditions … are imposed”. The council is, of course, the planning authority for the area and it is quite right that it examines in detail such a major development, and, indeed, imposes conditions.

There are also valid worries about the potential impact on the area’s holiday accommodation availability if hundreds of workers are parachuted in for the estimated six-year construction phase.

I understand these concerns, but I think the development is too important not to go ahead. Yes, there will be short-term pain but for enormous long-term gain.