Letters / Just ask Viking
I cannot think the vice chair of the Shetland Charitable Trust read my comments correctly, when he first stated I was not telling the truth (Not ditched; SN 16/11/12), so I will repeat again, for clarity, what I originally said.
The article was a comment on Bill Manson asserting there was no precedent for compensating homeowners who are forced to live near wind farms.
I said:
“Viking Energy seems to be in the habit of citing lack of precedent. The same sort of argument was used for the ditching of its Health Impact Assessment (HIA).”
Jonathan says I made this up. If I had made this up, I am quite sure there would have been a flurry of letters condemning me and putting me right. This has not happened.
It appears everyone except Jonathan knows what is going on.
As Jonathan is still insisting I invented all this I would suggest he contact Viking Energy’s chairman Bill Manson or their ex project co-ordinator Allan Wishart, both of whom are on record saying why their HIA was abandoned.
Alternatively, he could ask their project officer David Thomson.
When one of our members recently asked him about the HIA he replied in an email sent on 26 October 2012:
“Although a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is not a requirement of the consent application process, Viking Energy did try to commission one for the original 150 turbine proposal a number of years ago.
“An HIA was partially started but it was found impossible to continue in the absence of any guidance specifying the scope, content or procedures for preparing an HIA in relation to wind farms and in the absence of any official framework for scrutiny.”
Andrew Halcrow
Chair
Sustainable Shetland
Burra Isle
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