Letters / Less privileged
I would like to thank Councillor Wills for bringing me up on my error in stating that the council granted planning permission for the Viking Energy windfarm when it was in fact the government’s energy consents unit (What more does he want?; SN 12/3/13).
Fortunately my friends in Sustainable Shetland have pointed out to me that it was not the energy consents unit that gave planning permission but the Scottish ministers.
I quote verbatim from the letter of 4 April 2012:
“Subject to the conditions set out in Part 1 of Annex 2, Scottish Ministers grant consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for construction and operation for a 103 turbine Viking Windfarm in central mainland Shetland.”
Unlike Dr Wills I did not have the privilege of a university education, and the council meeting in the town hall where councillors decided not to object to the planning application was my first experience of council debate.
Incredibly this wide ranging and important debate included such intellectual gems as: “speaking for generations yet unborn”, “sailing in and out Sullom Voe”, “kitbags to Lime Street Liverpool”, “the smell of the Sullom Voe flare at the Herra” and lastly a reference to the masts on the Mossy Hill.
Dr Wills may have missed some of this due to his frequent absences from the chamber.
All I asked in my letter was why did Bobby Hunter wait two years until now to make his resignation from the Windfarm Supporters Group public?
Donnie Morrison
Setter
Weisdale
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