2024 Election thread
Comments
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Yes, because it's windy, sparsely populated and close to other infrastructure. The Highlands are sparsely populated and windy but difficult to get to. Other areas where these three factors coincide will probably see the most applications . And obviously, if you have a few years of moratorium then there will be a rush when that moratorium is lifted.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Sure it's all fun and games.
FWIW behind my parent's house they built Eddington, a £1bn development with 700 homes. My family were the only family not to object. It got waved through, i think because it was university owned land and it was their development and they can do what they want with it.
It's great. New school, new supermarket, nice new bike lane that cuts through it, the lot.
Just a shame I can't afford the houses there!
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The Highlands are in the Highlands, RSJT. That's about 150miles north of the more densely populated Borders. The "borders" and the Southern Uplands more generally are sort of from the suburbs of 80% of Scotland's population down. The large scale wind farms start probably a couple of miles from the edge of the "greater Edinburgh" conurbation. As such they have been built in areas with pretty high recreational visitor numbers and a higher than you'd expect population.
There are very few wind farms in the Highlands, and it is far less densely populated. It is almost as though the world famous scenery there needs preserving.
What do you think?
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Where I lived in Midlothian has seen several thousand houses built. Off the top of my head I can think of 5 large developments. The area changed drastically, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. While it is sad to see in some respects, in reality it is probably a dozen or so large fields' worth of land.
The development in each of West, East and Midlothian during our time there was dramatic - quite possibly more so than anywhere in the UK. I think East Lothian's population doubled, and there are two new towns.
I don't recall any of it being controversial, other than the absence of much forethought as to how all of these people were supposed to move around.
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I'm trying to explain why wind farms are clustering in that area and not in the similarly windy Highlands. I'm not commenting on the merits of the scenery. I also think you are right that the pattern of land ownership makes it more attractive than other areas.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I think the land ownership is probably even more concentrated into estates, in the Highlands.
It's just as windy, less populated. The highest wind speed ever recorded in Britain is after all on Cairn Gorm, which has a vast plateau.
The only reason the Highlands landscape doesn't look like it's got a 5 o'clock shadow is because it's objectively prettier and the region is heavily reliant on tourism.
By extension, I conclude that plastering a region with wind turbines is bad for tourism. It further follows that this is because most people don't think they improve the landscape. In addition, and as previously mentioned, even though people from London have rarely come across one, landscapes are judged by lawmakers to have a non zero value.
Hope that helps.
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I think you have it back to front. I don't think land owners care much about prettiness. They want a return. Getting transmission lines to that plateau is, I would guess, somewhat more of a challenge than Lanarkshire, and therefore much more expensive, leaving less profit.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Planners and governments care about the economic impacts on tourism.
Landowners in the Highlands get quite a lot of money from stupid Americans who want to shoot slow moving birds and red deer. So why would you jeapordise that?
The point is, the wind farm industry is about selling electricity and selling wind turbines. Saving the planet by putting them in the best places and impacts on others are further down the list.
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If they could make more money from turbines than farming grouse you can also be sure they would switch. It's no use generating if there's no grid connection
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
IIRC from a drive through the Highlands quite a few years ago there was objections to one of the largest pylon networks in the country.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Beauly-Denny, something like that?
They were pretty big but I think the question was also why that particular route was chosen, rather than a more sensitive one, and in addition why can't extra money be spent protecting conservative constituents' views like they get in the Cotswolds.
It is built now anyway.
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My point was that there is a grid there. Maybe not.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Yes, they have electricity in the Highlands.
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But it tends to go around the edges rather than over the hills for obvious reasons.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
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Struggling a bit with that one. Current population is 2.5k, so 120 houses adds maybe 300 people. It's brownfield land near an industrial area.
Don't get it, unless it's plans to offer homes to displaced Cuckoos from Midwitch. They can disrupt a small community.
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It reads like classic nimbyism - coming up with all sorts of specious reasons, but the basic bit is that they don't want change and 'other people' spoiling their protected patch. It reminds me of the site a friend was trying to develop, which included remediation of a contaminated old gasworks in the plan, but the locals went as far as enlisting the help of a fake 'doctor' to try to stop it.
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Yes.
It's why I get offended by glib accusations of nimbyism.
We lived in a cluster of 8 houses (and in many ways I miss it dearly), and the local plan said the character and community could stand two more. There was an application for 5. I supported it.
NIMBYism is objecting to anything. I object to ill conceived and unnecessary development. Hopefully it hasn't been lost that I don't object to wind farms in high wind yield, low population density grazing land right bloody next to three proposals that are ecologically sensitive and close to housing. Also, in a landscape feature singled out as an exemplar of where not to build a wind farm in all the local plans.
But hey, why give due consideration to anything you can dismiss out of hand before considering it.
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Yes you've made your support for wind farms very clear don't worry.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Nah. People need to realise the world changes and they don’t have a monopoly to keep stuff as it is.
you’re literally saying you don’t want windmills near you. How is that non nimbyism.
There’s always a good reason not to do something. In this instance, the necessary energy transition, the reasons to do it are better.
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Glib.
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Moron
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😂
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Honestly, absolute reams of moaning about where not to build wind farms, and how you don't want turbines near you, followed by a moan about people labelling you a nimby. Come on...
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Didn't you say that that was the one that was refused and again at appeal. And although overridden by some part of central (Scottish) government it was then blocked by another part of government. That sort of sounds like the system is working albeit slightly dysfunctionally. I don't think you can reasonably ban people from applying even if those applications are misguided.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
It wasn't blocked as such, it's just in a queue. Pretty much has totally destroyed the value of peoples.homes.who rely on those water supplies though. Hey ho. Someone innocent has to pay dearly, right?
Look, if the industry says anything will do (and it demonstrably does) then it's fair I think to object to some of them and take a dim view of the green washing of all the totally shit applications.
The totally shit ones greatly outnumber the good ones. In my experience.
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I'm sorry if case by case assessment on the merits is more complicated than nimby/not nimby. It's hard and it makes your brain hurt, sorry about that.
I'll try to keep things black and white in future.
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I get very offended by glib accusations of being a moron.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
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Did you see that is in black and white? I did try.
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