Tuesday, 1st November 2011
Scots windfarm critics set for national rally
Scotland’s first national conference aimed at challenging the Scottish Government’s commitment to whole-sale windfarm development will be held in Ayr on Friday 11th November.
Bringing together over 300 anti-windfarm protesters, from the Borders to Caithness and from Tiree to the Cairngorms, the Scottish National Windfarm Conference is being organised by Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS) and will be chaired by Scottish Labour’s Graeme Pearson MSP. The keynote speaker at the event will be Conservative Euro MP for Scotland, Struan Stevenson MEP.
Other speakers at the all-day event will include:
• Professor Iain MacLeod
(Emeritus Professor of Structural Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) and Chairman of the IESIS Energy Strategy Group);
• Colin Gibson
(former Power Network Director at the National Grid);
• Dr Malcolm Swinbanks
(independent acoustic researcher and consultant);
• Dr Chris Hanning
(honorary consultant in Sleep Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester);
• Dick Bowdler
(founding member of the Institute of Acoustics and an independent consultant on windfarm noise pollution) and;
• Helen McDade
(Head of Policy at the John Muir Trust)
Speaking ahead of the conference, Struan Stevenson MEP said:
“I am delighted to be attending this pioneering national conference as keynote speaker. All over Scotland we are seeing giant wind turbines cropping up all over the countryside and people are beginning to say enough is enough.
“The time has come for the government to think again about its windfarm policy. We all stand to suffer from the growing scourge of windfarms and the inestimable damage they do to our landscape, economy and national prosperity, all for a negligible return on energy and environmental benefit.”
Commenting from the Scottish Parliament, conference chairman Graeme Pearson MSP said:
“Across the South of Scotland I have witnessed a real concern amongst communities about windfarm development and their impact.
“At the same time fuel poverty and the economics behind these developments seemed mired in complexities. This conference will give an opportunity to the public to better understand the issues.”
Susan Crosthwaite from CATS commented:
“CATS members have been at the forefront of efforts to make the Scottish Government and windfarm developers listen to the wishes of long-suffering local communities before they carpet our beautiful countryside with wind turbines.
“So, we are delighted to be welcoming such a great line-up of speakers and delegates from all over Scotland to Ayr, for the country’s first national anti-windfarm conference.”
Notes to Editors
1. The Scottish National Windfarm Conference will be held on Friday 11th November from 10.00am until 4.00pm in the Ayrshire Suite at Ayr Racecourse, Ayr. There is an attendance fee of £26 per person. Delegates can register online and see full details of the conference and speakers at:
www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com/windfarm-conference/
2. Struan Stevenson is a Conservative Euro MP for Scotland. He is a member of the European Parliament's Environment Committee and President of the Climate Change, Biodiversity & Sustainable Development Intergroup of more than 200 MEPs.
3. Graeme Pearson MSP was elected to the Scottish Parliament in May 2011, as a Scottish Labour regional member for the South of Scotland region.
4. You are invited to send a reporter/photographer/camera crew to the conference. For further information on media opportunities, please contact Peter Smyth on peter@indigopr.com, 0131 554 1146 or 07766 166 637.
Tuesday, 1st November 2011
