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WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please write to
Mr Alastair Banks,
Head of
Development Services,
Department
for Sustainable Communities,
Council Offices,
Sandwick Road,
Stornoway,
Isle of Lewis,
Scotland, HS1 2BW
http://www.w-isles.gov.uk/
(email link immediately below):
Mail to Mr Alastair Banks
[Please move info@proact-campaigns.net to bcc./hidden
copy address line]
A draft text is provided below or you can compose your own using the following main points:
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Say that you object to Farm Energy Ltd's Beinn Mholach development because of the risk
to the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection/RAMSAR Area and to the Golden Eagle and
-
ask
for the development to be stopped; failing that a public enquiry is essential .
(Note: letters that are
different, not copies of a model used by other campaigners, have more impact).
DEADLINE:
now AUGUST 28th
2004
(at the latest)
IF
YOU HAVE TIME
Please also
send an open letter (by email) to the individual councillors who will cast their votes at the meeting to consider the
wind turbine planning application:
OPEN LETTER TO WESTERN ISLES COUNCILLORS
.... and if you have still have energy left you can lobby the individual councillors:
LOBBY THE INDIVIDUAL COUNCILLORS HERE
DRAFT TEXT
Subject:
WIND TURBINE DEVELOPMENT ON A SITE DESIGNATED UNDER NATURA 2000 AND THE RAMSAR CONVENTION
By
electronic mail to Mr A Banks, CNES
Dear
Mr Banks,
We have been informed that Farm Energy Ltd has applied for planning permission to erect six wind turbines on Beinn Mholach inside the Lewis Peatlands
Special Protection Area, Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in close proximity to nesting Golden Eagle (site
also designated under the RAMSAR Convention). This project is referred to as "Pentland Road" by the promoters, but in fact it is on the Barvas Hills, well into the
SPA.
Wind turbines do not have to be located in Special Protection Areas. Under EU environmental legislation
SPAs are Public Resources, and private companies should not be allowed to make profits from exploiting them and diminishing
their worth to the Public. As for the threat to birds, the Golden Eagle is well
known to be highly susceptible to turbine blade strike (more than 1000 eagles have been killed in Altamont, California, over
the last 20 years) and there are sufficient other significant threats (e.g.: persecution, poisoning) to the Scottish and European
populations.
This development sets an unacceptable precedent for the imminent planning application by AMEC Project
Investments Ltd for 300 potentially lethal wind turbines inside the same Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area.
Farm
Energy claims that the risk to Golden Eagle is insignificant but its environmental assessment is inadequate. The impact on
Golden Eagle can only be properly assessed by a thorough and open examination of the facts.
This is a matter which causes grave concern among UK
and European conservationists. With reference to P/PP/75/96/W/6 we request therefore that you turn down Farm Energy’s
application. Failing this, at the very least, we urge you to demonstrate your accountability and initiate urgently a public
inquiry.
Yours sincerely,
(Name and address)
Key problems with Farm Energy's Golden Eagle assessment:
·
the assessment predicts one eagle death every
46 years using a model provided by the wind industrys trade lobby (British Wind Energy Association), despite the fact that
the Scottish Executive has advised that this model is unfit for the purpose;
·
the blade strike estimate is reduced by claiming
that golden eagles avoid wind turbines. In fact research demonstrates that golden eagles are attracted to wind turbines, spending
seven times more time flying in close proximity (within 50m) to wind turbines than would be expected by chance.
·
observations to determine range use took place
in May and June only, an atypical period when breeding eagles are expected to remain close to their nest and an abundance
of prey readily available close to the nest. Range use in May and June does not extrapolate to range use for the rest of the
year.
·
the assessment notes the Golden Eagles preference
for land more than 150m above sea level, but uses an arbitrary distance from the nest to just exclude the wind farm site from
the definition of the eagles core range. Land over 150m above sea level is limited in the locality and this wind farm is in
the eagles core range.
Citations for the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area:
58,984 hectares. Designated under EC Birds
Directive 79/409/EC site UK9001571 and RAMSAR Convention site 1046. A near-continuous mantle of deep blanket peat liberally dotted
with small pools and lochs, the second-largest expanse of this habitat in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe. Similar
in character to the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland which were extensively damaged by coniferous afforestation in the
1980s. To the south, the peatland is more broken, with outcrops of rock and larger lochs forming a distinctive "knock and
lochan" landscape. The hyper-oceanic, extremely humid upper boreal bioclimatic zone predominates here to an extent found nowhere
else in Europe.
This vast expanse of relatively undisturbed
peatland supports a diverse range of associated flora and fauna, and is internationally important for migratory birds and
for breeding waders, divers and raptors, including:
· Dunlin
33.2% Baltic/UK/Ireland breeding population
· Golden Plover
8.8% UK breeding population
· Black-throated Diver 6.9%
UK breeding population
· Red-throated Diver
6.4% UK breeding population
· Golden Eagle
1.5% UK breeding population
· Merlin
1.5% UK breeding population
· Greenshank
10.0% UK breeding population
© Proact 2004
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