Clashindarroch Wind Farm

Survey of Residents, October 2005

During the past week, and concurrent with the SAOS meetings, Anne Forbes has carried out an impromptu survey of Glass residents to get an up to date view of current thinking about the proposed wind farm.

A sample of 140 people (by far the majority of the population) in Glass were questioned by Anne Forbes between 12th - 16th October, 2005 to see if views had changed since her last, less comprehensive, survey in August, 2004

The results show a significant majority still in opposition to the proposal for a wide variety of reasons.

Not all respondents gave reasons for their opinion but numbers are given for those who did. A selection of the reasons are listed below. Of those giving reasons, the majority cited technical or environmental objections.

Glass Survey, October 2005

Against			For			Uncommited
85 (60.9%)			28 (20%)			27 (19.1%)
Visual	Technical	Environment	Clean energy	Like to see	Need to do something	Not bothered	Don't mind	Unsure	Won't say
31	17	21	3	8	2	2	8	8	1

A selection of reasons given for opinion:

Visual impact

Inappropriate for area in scale,
an eyesore - better to put somewhere where they can't be seen,
a blot on the landscape,
would destroy the view, would have two wind farms in view,
if we don't need the electricity why should we have to see them.

Technical reasons

Not doing what they claimed to do,
a waste of money, could be spent on developing other means,
don't see evidence that the sustainable energy gained is worth the disruption to the countryside,
it is not the best form of clean energy,
the theory is good but to produce enough would have to obliterate the countryside with them,
they are not solving any long term problems,
they would cost more to install than they save in clean energy,
more co2 is used in creating them than is saved,
if Scotland doesn't need the electricity why do we have to look at them,
better to have individual wind turbines per household or community,
they are not efficient,
a waste of money, purely political,
the energy equation doesn't add up,
we can get energy from other sources,
they are totally inefficient, yesterday's technology,
they don't do much good, they won't produce enough electricity,
the technology is outdated, a stop gap,
it is insanity to continue with the policy.

Disruption to the environment

Damage to the water table,
could cause flooding,
damage to wildlife - especially the wild cat,
damage to the woods,
damage to the countryside,
traffic during three years of installing,
effect on the river system,
damage to the hillside, especially the SSSI,
general disturbance, noise,
inappropriate location, would spoil area, natural environment,
will change the character of the countryside

We have got to do something

We have plenty of wind, we should use it,
saves on nuclear, much against nuclear.

Like to see them

They are absolutely beautiful

Unsure

Wave energy would be better - if 1% of wave energy was harnessed we would wipe out all the wind farms,
we need something, can't complain about global warming if not prepared to take some pain,
I need to investigate alternatives.

Don't want to say

It's nobody else's business