Friday 30 March 2012

Carnbee & Arncroach Vote on Lingo Turbines


Yesterday saw the Community Council vote on the Lingo Turbine proposal, and the majority of the community gave a resounding thumbs down to the proposal. Sixty people voted against it, with only forty-four voting in favour, a clear majority for the "NO" vote.


It remains to be seen whether or not the Community Council will now be more open to the Pro-Environment position - remember that the Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary are all members of the local Community Development Trust, whose main (only?) activity so far has been to chase turbine money in the form of Community Benefit. And will the Community Development Trust change their position as a result? So far they have maintained that their position is one of 'neutrality', although of course negotiating with developers is seen as tacit agreement to their proposals, and can certainly be spun that way in any press that developers put out.

All this activity by the CDT has taken place without the organisation recruiting any more members since its original inception several years ago (apart from the Chair of the Community Council); all of its 'members' are from the original steering group who pledged to step down once/if the CDT was established by the community - so far they have yet to do so. At last count there was a maximum of ten people with 'membership' of the CDT, three of whom are also office-bearers on the Community Council, and one who is the Factor of Balcaskie Estate, which also happens to have an application for two wind turbines on the East Neuk Ridge at North Baldutho Farm, currently going through Fife Council's Planning System.


Good to see that Democracy is alive and well in Carnbee and Arncroach.....

Wednesday 28 March 2012

News Just In.....

The picture across the East Neuk Ridge is one of quick change as agents and applicants make adjustments to try and get through the planning system at Fife Council. The agent for the turbine application at North Baldutho Farm (part of the Balcaskie Estate) has now requested a reduction in height to be considered. The original application had the turbines at a height of 150ft, but the application was objected to by the Ministry Of Defence, as it would interfere with their radar system at Leuchars. The application now requests that a height of 94.25ft be considered, which presumably, won't interfere with the radar system. However, we note that a few eagle-eyed members of the community have spotted this already and reminded the Council that this constitutes a material change to the application. A whole new application, including all the supporting documents should therefore be required by the Council from the applicant. We will wait to see what happens next...

As an aside, the reduction in height request comes after a rather bizarre letter from the agent for the North Baldutho Farm application, which refutes the Scottish Natural Heritage objection and request for further information concerning these turbines. The agent's letter seems to be suggesting, amongst other things, that the Council should allow turbines despite the damage that they will do to the local and migratory bird life, because Fife Council also issues the licences for shooting the geese. You couldn't make it up...!
 If you want to read the letter itself, and any other correspondence regarding this application, go to www.fifedirect.org.uk/planning, type North Baldutho into the search box - see for yourself!

Thursday 22 March 2012

Objections Totaliser...

Just so that we can get a clearer picture of the East Neuk Ridge, and keep an eye on what's happening with all the applications here, we have created a Totaliser, showing the current status of each application currently making it's way through the planning system, and the number of objections to each. We'll update it with new information as it becomes available.


Clatto and Devonwood

For those not yet in the know, the applications for these two developments (so close to each other as to appear to be one large wind farm) have now been rejected by the Central Planning Committee at Fife Council. Our hearty congratulations to all those Councillors who saw good sense and rejected the applications, despite the political pressure being applied to pass them. (See posts below.)
West Coast Energy and Green Cat Renewables, the two developers involved, have not yet made any comment about what their next moves will be, but we're betting they won't be pleased!

Tuesday 20 March 2012


And on that note...

Mr Trump also threw his weight behind 11 groups from across Fife who have jointly written to the Chief Executive of Fife Council to complain about the threat the Kingdom is currently under from the plethora of applications right across the Kingdom, and the way in which these applications are being dealt with. The Trump organisation  stated that these groups were doing 'absolutely the right thing' by banding together against proposals that had the potential to 'destroy' coast and countryside in Fife and beyond. The text of this letter to Fife Council is re-produced below. (Names/addresses have been removed.)

Mr R Hinds
Chief Executive
Fife Council
Fife House
Glenrothes
KY7 5LT                                                                                 15TH March 2012                                                                           


Dear Mr Hinds,

Wind Farm and wind turbine application assessments by Fife Council

The contents of this letter reflect the views of the following Fife wide organisations.

Protect Rural East Fife (PREF)
Clatto Landscape Protection Group (CLPG)
Auchtermuchty Landscape and Environment Group (ALE)
Ceres and District Environment and Amenity Protection Group (CADEAP)
Protect Largoward Environment and Amenity Group (PLEA)
Kenly Landscape Protection Group (KLPG)
Save Carnbee and Arncroach Landscape and Environment (SCALE)
Stop Proliferations of Turbines (SPOT) Fife
Stop Turbines at Cameron Kinaldy (STACK)
West Fife Community Council Forum
Lochgelly - Loch of Shining Waters Forum

We do not believe that planning reports prepared for Area Committees considering wind turbine planning applications are properly assessing applications against National Policy, the Fife Development Plan, Fife Council Supplementary Planning Guidance, The Fife Landscape Character Assessment and advice from Scottish Natural Heritage.  We do not consider that assessment of visual amenity is sufficiently objective and relies entirely, in a non interrogative way, on the submissions of the applicant and is prejudicial to the people of Fife.

The specific problems we see are:

  1. A culture of denial of adverse visual impact even when local communities object in considerable numbers with this as a primary reason 
  2. The absence of a critical approach by the planning authority to the environmental impact assessments.  These are self serving documents which ascribe significance of visual impact  in the developer’s terms and not in the terms of the people who would receive the impact
  3. ASH guidelines are interpreted as if proposals are automatically acceptable at their upper limits or beyond.  The guidelines describe a range of turbine heights and numbers in a broad context to encourage a developer to make the best fit choice of turbine to limit the landscape and visual impact.
  4. Uncritical acceptance of noise regulations, which by the Council’s own admission don’t always protect residential amenity
  5. There is a lack of rigour in referencing all assessment objectively to all of the relevant policies and this is resulting in local impacts of significance being ignored.  

The groups have considered the planning reports and associated complaints submitted to the Council with respect to the determined application at Earlseat and the pending applications at Clatto Hill and Devon Wood. We fully support the terms of those complaints. They demonstrate the principal grounds for our concerns.

We all live in areas in which wind turbine applications are coming forward, at an alarming rate.   The need to ensure that policies designed to protect communities and individual dwellings are afforded proper weight in assessments has never been greater.

With respect we believe the Planning Service needs to act urgently and decisively to address the concerns we are raising.

Yours sincerely


We'll publish the response when it arrives... 
 
And just to liven things up...


We see that Donald Trump has been sticking is two pence worth in again. In the Courier and Advertiser on Monday, he questioned the 'sanity' of the Scottish Government, and reiterated his belief that Alex Salmond is 'hellbent' on destroying Scotland with windfarms.  In the extensive article, George Soriel, Trump's executive vice-president and legal counsel, states

'Scotland is 10 years behind the curve on renewable energies. Just about every country in the world is abandoning wind turbines, from Spain to Holland to the USA.
Wind power has cause great destruction and wasted millions. For example, in Palm Spring, California, 14,000 turbines have been abandoned in the desert because they are inefficient. They don't work. 
Can you imagine the cost of building these things off the coast of St Andrews for example, finding they don't work then abandoning them? 
What kind of rational politician would destroy a site that people have been enjoying from all over the world for centuries? St Andrews is the most iconic golf course in the entire sport. What kind of a madman would compromise that kind of an asset? 
People come to St Andrews from all over the world. The Government should be protecting it and trying to treasure it. It's lunacy. Scotland is the only country going in the opposite direction.'

Donald Trump will be testifying on April 25th, along with Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS) to the Scottish Parliamentary Committee.

Well, love him or hate him, he's not wrong about this one...





Fife Planning Department Begins to feel the pressure as the Clatto Applications go to Committee Today.....


Below is a reprint of some of the articles that have appeared in the local press over the last few days concerning the two applications for wind turbines from Green Cat Energy and West Coast Energy at Devon Wood and Clatto Hill. 

The contradictory way in which planners have dealt with these applications has lead to Clatto Landscape Protection Group taking their case to Fergus Ewing, the Energy Minister, as a demonstration of how planning departments are feeling the pressure from Holyrood to pass as many of these applications as possible, regardless of the policy guidelines and the suitability of the applications.




CLPG have fought these applications over a long period of time (as well as previous applications) and have now written to Fergus Ewing in an attempt to  make it clear that the huge financial rewards for developers mean that they are riding rough-shod over communities, seeking instead to 'buy' their acquiesence through Community Benefit packages, and that pressure on local planning departments to pass as many of these turbine applications as possible means that site location and supporting documentation provided by the developers for their applications, is often far below the 'impartial' standard it is meant to be.


PRESS RELEASE 16TH March 2012 

RECONSIDER MINISTER 


“Everything about the process forces local communities into an oppositional stance,” said Greg Brown, chair of the Clatto Landscape Protection Group, “Yet Scottish Government policy stresses the need for cooperation with local communities.” 

In the letter to Fergus Ewing, the group claims that the financial rewards for landowners and developers are so high that they are prepared to ride roughshod over local community concerns. “This also results in developers submitting documents supporting applications, serving their own interests, rather than the impartial documents required by regulations,” Greg Brown said. “In our case matters have been made worse by serious flaws in the planning service assessments of both Clatto Hill applications. This has resulted in our submitting a formal complaint to the Council.” CLPG explained to the Energy Minister in their letter that lip service is paid by developers to engaging with local communities, while in practice their focus is on attracting acquiescence by the offer of money for local community groups. “These attempts failed on Clatto Hill because local opposition was so strong due to the size, number and location of giant turbines in proximity to peoples’ homes and their very high visibility for miles around.” 
Fife Council’s Planning Committee meets on Tuesday to make final decisions on both Clatto Hill applications for a total of 8 turbines 100 metres or more in height. This follows Area Committee meetings of North East Fife and Levenmouth councillors, almost all of whom expressed strong views in opposition to them. 
“Our Group hopes, by writing to the Minister, that he will make changes to the application process, so that other local communities don’t have to go through the hell we have over the last two years,” said Greg Brown. 

Notes to the editor: 
Clatto Landscape Protection Group (CLPG) is a membership organisation formed in 2002. The purpose of CLPG is to protect a unique world class landscape for present and future generations of the community and visitors to the Kingdom of Fife to enjoy forever. 


We wish all at CLPG the best of luck today, and hope that the Central Planning Committee don't bow to the political pressure from Holyrood...





Wednesday 14 March 2012

Information for everyone....


Fife is experiencing a 'flood' of applications for wind turbines in the region, ranging from 120ft right up to the giant 370ft, and the East Neuk is no exception. There are now campaign groups beginning to spring up everywhere, as people realise the massive impact that these industrial machines will have on their lives. 
If you want to know about what is happening elsewhere in the East Neuk and in Fife generally, you can't do better than go to www.fifewindfarms.org.uk where you will find lots of information about what's happening where, how to join specific campaign groups and how to make your objections known.

Monday 12 March 2012


Below is a reprint of an article published in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday. At last, the national papers are beginning to get the message, and realise the sheer breathtaking scale of the financial scam that is being perpetrated against the general public. 

Gerald Warner: Fuelling an inconvenient delusion that spells ruin for Scotland

WIND power – more accurately wind impotence, since turbines operate at just 24 per cent of capacity – is the curse of Scotland. One of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe has been brutally ravaged, families have been driven into fuel poverty, pensioners have been presented with the lethal dilemma “heat or eat” – all to appease the neurotic prejudices of global warming fanatics.
Last week, the punitive costs of this lunacy were exposed in a report by Professor Gordon Hughes, professor of economics at Edinburgh University. He has calculated that the bill for wind energy by 2020 will cost consumers £120 billion. Yet generating the same amount of electricity from efficient gas-powered stations would cost only £13bn. Where the full insanity of the renewables option is brought home is in Professor Hughes’ claim that, beyond the crippling cost to consumers, “there is a significant risk that annual CO2 emissions could be greater under the Wind Scenario than the Gas Scenario”. The optimistic forecast is that wind power might reduce carbon emissions by 2.8 per cent: the worst-case scenario, as the quote above shows, is actually a negative carbon reduction – achieved at a cost of £120bn.
The inefficiency of wind turbines requires perpetual back-up by building gas turbine power stations – running two parallel energy generation systems, each alternately redundant, in times of economic crisis. The fiscal ratchet is turning relentlessly. The Renewables Obligation, introduced in Scotland in 2002, forces electricity suppliers to source an increasing proportion of power from renewables, currently 11.1 per cent and rising. By 2027 this scam will have cost UK customers £32bn.
Rook customers for a further £24 a year towards the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, £42 to subsidise wind farms, £13 from gas consumers to fund the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and £25 to support renewables, and what do you have? An average Scottish household energy bill of £1,345, with families spending more than 14 per cent of their monthly income on gas and electricity, compared with 8 per cent in 2005. Yet by 2020 these costs will be recalled nostalgically as the days of cheaper energy, once the green taxes really kick in. There are now 900,000 Scottish households in fuel poverty, which the SNP government has pledged to eliminate by November 2016. They are going about it in a strange way.
It is not bad news for everybody: across the UK a dozen landowners are sharing £850 million in subsidies for wind turbines. Some people claim to regard turbines as beautiful; that aesthetic prejudice is understandable if you are the owner of a turbine earning £250,000 in subsidies to generate £150,000 worth of electricity, the ratio revealed in the report. A study by Professor David MacKay, of Cambridge University, estimated it would require an area the size of Wales completely covered with wind turbines to supply just one-sixth of the UK’s energy needs. That would be fine with Alex Salmond – Scotland might just fit the bill.
The worst enormity of this scheme for the environmental devastation (in the name of saving the environment) and impoverishment of Scotland is that it is all founded on a superstition: the Grande Peur of man-made global warming. Never has science been so shamelessly manipulated. Forget the notorious frauds – the discredited “Hockey Stick”, Al Gore’s misrepresentations of ice-core samples, the Siberian tree rings, the melting Himalayan glaciers, the University of East Anglia emails, the sea levels rising only in computer models, the polar bear population “declining” from 5,000 to 25,000 since 1970 – and go to the original false premise.
Of the specifically defined “greenhouse gases,” the most abundant is water vapour, but global warmists perversely exclude it from their calculations. When asked why, they reply that it is “customary” to do so. The reason, of course, is that since water vapour accounts for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, removing it vastly increases the proportion of carbon dioxide in the equation. With water vapour included, as it should be, CO2 represents only 3.6 per cent of the greenhouse effect. Overall, just 0.28 per cent of the greenhouse effect is man-made; within that, man-made CO2 accounts for 0.117 per cent of the greenhouse effect.
That is the total global output by humanity. If the prescriptions of the Kyoto Accord were universally implemented they would reduce it by 0.035 per cent. Diligent mathematicians may, if they wish, apply themselves to calculating Scotland’s contribution to that minuscule CO2 production, harmless in any case since solar activity is the likeliest cause of cyclical climate change. That is the “threat” to our existence in response to which Alex Salmond is destroying the landscape of his country and imposing hardship on its people. To the faithful, of course, this is the Great Leap Forward.

So when are our representatives in the national parliaments going to do the same and change this disastrous policy? 


Sunday 11 March 2012

Banff MSP suggests re-think on wind turbine regulations, Banffshire Journal, 06 Mar 12

By Graham Crawford

The lax planning guidelines operated by Aberdeenshire Council regarding
wind turbines has been called into question by Stewart Stevenson MSP.

The local authority has been flooded with applications for industrial-sized
structures because it allows them to be built within 400 metres of the
nearest properties, whereas most councils stipulate 2,000 metres.

Already more than 450 turbines have been erected in Aberdeenshire in recent
years, and there are applications pending for a similar number.

It makes the area the wind capital of the UK, and there is increasing
public anger over loss of amenity and the effect the structures are having
on the rural landscape.

Now Banff and Buchan SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson – a strong advocate of wind
power – has written to Aberdeenshire Council chief executive Colin
Mackenzie stating: “I believe it is now time to consider whether the policy
set by other councils, where it is 2km, is appropriate for use by
Aberdeenshire Council.”

An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman told the Banffshire Journal: “The
Aberdeenshire Local Plan policy does not state a minimum distance between
turbines and dwellings, although it does highlight that this distance is
not expected to be below 400 metres.

“The actual distance will depend on the individual circumstances of the
application concerned, and will also take account of such matters as
possible shadow flicker, noise, visual intrusion and safety issues.

“Scottish Planning Policy does not outline minimum separation distances
between turbines and dwellings either.
The reference to two kilometres
within Scottish Planning Policy relates to areas of search for wind farms
over 20MW.

“Each application is treated on its own merits and is guided by the
policies of the development plan. The current policy was reviewed as part
of the preparation of the proposed Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan and
is being considered by Reporters appointed by Scottish Ministers.”

Mr Stevenson’s letter followed a meeting with a Cornhill constituent
opposed to wind turbines.

The constituent, who did not want named, said this week: “There is growing
public disquiet about turbines as people find them suddenly sprouting up
next to them.

More people are also finding out that turbines are not all they are
cracked up to be.”

She also claimed councillors are not listening to their constituents.

She added: “The whole planning process is already weighted toward the
proponent, such as the unfair way that proponents can re-apply for their
proposal time and again when the objectors have no third right of appeal as
they do in Ireland.

“More often than not, our councillors overrule the planning department when
an application has been recommended for refusal. That happened with the
Muirake and Strath of Brydock turbines when the Banff and Buchan
councillors voted unanimously to overrule the planners. Buchan councillors
have already approved three schemes near Longside against the Ministry of
Defence’s advice.

“Who are our councillors looking after?

“We also want Aberdeenshire Council to lower the height of what is
considered a ‘domestic’ turbine because different requirements apply to
them. In Aberdeenshire it is set at under 50 metres, in Moray it is less
than 40 metres.”

Last week, around 20 campaigners fighting to halt the march of wind
turbines who protested outside Aberdeenshire Council’s seminar for
councillors which allowed a member of the renewables industry to speak to
them for 10 minutes but denied wind opponents a voice. Nick Orpwood,
spokesman for Cuminestown-based group Concerned About Wind Turbines, said
the seminar was not designed to give councillors the full picture. “There
was nobody to put forward the negative points regarding wind turbines, or
to raise concerns about the entire planning process in Aberdeenshire,” he said.

• Banff and Buchan area committee will today (Tuesday) discuss planning
applicaions for three adjacent 80-metre high turbines at Backhill of
Culbirnie, Hill of Culbirnie and Little Blairshinnoch at Hilton near Banff.

Planning officials are recommending refusal of all three applications on
the grounds they would have an adverse impact on the visual and residential
amenity of nearby residential properties; they would have a detrimental
impact on landscape character, composition and quality of the area; and the
cumulative impact of the development would be unacceptable; and they would
have an adverse impact on the setting and integrity of category A-listed
Inchdrewer Castle and Duff House and category B-listed Mains of Badavie
buildings. 

Saturday 10 March 2012

Thank You...


A huge thank you to everyone who has responded to the recent SCALE mail drop that was sent round concerning the two planning applications for turbine generators at South Baldutho Farm. The response has been immense, and objections now stand at over 100 and are still coming in... Keep up the great work!


Other news just in - the application for a turbine at South Cassingray Farm, refused by Fife Council, is being appealed again by Gordon Pay, (the applicant) and now goes to a Reporter at the Scottish Executive. More on this as it becomes available.


Friday 9 March 2012

Turbine Events Past and Coming Up...


Last week saw the Carnbee and Arncroach Community Council meeting and the Lingo Community Benefit Forum meeting, at both of which the Lingo Wind Factory was, of course, discussed. It is understood that the Carnbee and Arncroach Community Council, who met on Monday last, intend to distribute a leaflet to the community at the end of this month concerning West Coast Energy's application at Lingo. The wording of the leaflet will contain reference to the amount of community benefit that will become available for the area, but not to any of the adverse affects that those close by and further afield in the Carnbee and Arncroach areas, amongst others, will experience.

It is difficult to know how the Community Council is able to state and present a figure for community benefit as established fact when it is clear from the Lingo Community Benefit Forum meeting that followed on the Wednesday, that the group has been unable to even appoint a Chair, never mind hammer out any kind of deal with West Coast Energy concerning who will get what and when. Until that is, one realises that the Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary of the Carnbee and Arncroach Community Council are all also members of the local Community Development Trust, whose main agenda item appears to be chasing any money going from turbine developments. Could this be influencing them at all? You decide…

Other events coming up that may be of interest:

'Question Time' - the venerable political panel show comes to St Andrews on Thursday 15th March, and the perfect opportunity to ask a question about government wind policy. 
It’s starting at 20.30 in the Student’s Union building in Market Street. You have to apply for tickets in advance at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17154440. 



Couldn't have put it better ourselves.....


The anger over wind turbines cropping up just about everywhere continues to build and find expression all over the UK. This letter, published yesterday in a local paper in Shropshire, is typical of the many that are now beginning to appear. The politicians need to start taking action....

Letter: Fury over wind turbine proposals

Friday 9th March 2012, 8:00AM GMT.
Letter: Fury over wind turbine proposals
'The recent meeting held with regards to the wind turbine proposals for an area of countryside across Minsterley and Worthen showed the depth of feeling and anger among the community which these blots on the landscape will affect.
What is being allowed to occur in our countryside is vandalism on a grand scale by the few to the detriment of the many.
These few people who are so willing and happy to sell out their neighbours, their communities, and their countryside, they risk becoming the social pariahs of their communities where once they commanded some respect.
One turbine is as objectionable as a windfarm or a swathe of electricity pylons.
I find it hard to believe that a wind turbine in view of a property –or properties – will not have a significant affect on the value of those properties.
The visual impact these things have on the open countryside is horrendous and the affect on tourism to the British countryside will become a major concern in the future if this is allowed to continue.
We see dubious support for some of these turbines from fellow residents on the planning register which is open for all to view.
Views such as ‘They are not that noticeable’ through to the side-splitting ‘people never noticed it until it was pointed out to them’ down to the ‘farms need to diversify’ argument.
This has nothing to do with farming diversification, this is purely down to making a quick buck.
The truth is many people are unaware of plans for single turbines until they are actually erected, unlike mini or large windfarms where the media may pick up on the issue.
The full benefits of wind turbines are still debatable, and if we do have a real need for wind turbines now or in the future then they should be off shore, not littering the British countryside, which belongs to all not the few.'
Andrew Finch
Shrewsbury


http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/03/09/letter-fury-over-wind-turbine-proposals/#ixzz1ohHkpB2O

Friday 2 March 2012


Save the East Neuk Ridge!

The proliferation of wind turbine applications in the area keeps on growing, with the result that the whole of the Coastal Ridge above the famed East Neuk villages will soon be covered in large-scale Wind Turbines. A quick look at a map shows that before we know it, the East Neuk will be dominated by these ugly and near useless monstrosities, and our fantastic tourist industry, for which we are renowned throughout the world, will be in tatters.
Take a walk down the B940 from Higham Toll towards the Anstruther Road, and see how things are shaping up.....

1. First on the Journey is North Cassingray Farm , Fife (Planning Ref. 11/06388/FULL)
An application for 1 turbine (112ft/34.5m), currently pending consideration by Fife Council. This turbine will be approximately 2 miles to the north west of Kellie Law, and the smallest of the applications in the area so far. There are no objections to this application(?) as yet....

2. Travelling a little further along the road is North Baldutho Farm, Anstruther, Fife, KY10 2RY (Planning Ref. 11/01314/FULL)
The application here is for 2 turbines (152.5ft/46.9m), currently pending consideration at Fife Council. These turbines are located approximately 1.7 miles to the north west of Kellie Law, and will sit very close to the entrance of the Lingo Farm site, just off the B940. There are 6 objections to this application to date.

3. A little further to the south of North Baldutho is Belliston Quarry, Arncroach, Fife, KY9 1JS (Planning Ref. 11/01449/SCR & 11/03580/SCO) 
The developers have applied for a Scoping/Screening Opinion for one wind turbine (304ft/93.5m). This turbine will be located less than one third of a mile to the west of the turbines at South Baldutho and then Kellie Law, and very visible on top of the coastal ridge. Belliston Quarry is a known nesting site for a pair of Peregrine Falcons (protected species), and yet this has not deterred them at all, although public protest direct to the Scottish Executive Planners did ensure that they now have to do a full Environmental Impact Assessment. Watch this space....

4. Almost immediately to the east of the quarry, and very close to Kellie Law is South Baldutho Farm, KY10 2RX (Planning Refs. 11/04749/FULL &11/04748/FULL)
There are two separate planning applications here, one for each of two turbines (150ft/47m), currently pending consideration at Fife Council. Their proximity to Gillingshill Nature Reserve, Kellie Law, the nesting site of Peregrine Falcons at Belliston Quarry, several residential properties and businesses, as well as their prominence on the coastal ridge make these applications particularly pressing. So far, there are 73 objections to each of them. (See post below.)

5. Heading directly northwards again, we come to Lingo Farm....(Planning Ref. 12/00153/SCR)
This is a proposal from West Coast Energy to put in 5 turbines (325ft/100m) at the Lingo Farm site, about 2 miles north of Kellie Law. This is very near to Cameron Loch, an SSSI site, and location for many bird migrations through the season. West Coast Energy, the development company, have a reputation for obtaining planning permission and then selling the site on to another company, and it is likely that there will eventually be more turbines at this ecologically sensitive site.  Their height means that they will be visible from many locations in Fife, including the East Neuk Coast and St Andrews. So far, there are 108 objections.

6. From Lingo, we travel on along the central part of the road towards Pittarthie Farm, Fife, KY10 2RZ (Planning Ref, 11/00135/SCR & 11/00180/SCR)
An application for screening opinions on 2 turbines here (162ft/50m). These turbines will be located very near the to the turbines at Lingo, but as these are screening opinions, there is no opportunity for the public to comment yet.


7. Balhouffie Farm, Fife KY10 (Planning Ref. 11/03869/FULL)
Just a little further down the road will be a turbine of 124ft/38.25m. This one slipped under the radar, and planning permission with conditions was granted just a short while ago.... 

8. And finally, just before you come to the Anstruther/St Andrews Road, you come to Balmonth, Bonerbo and Drumrack Farms, Fife, KY10 2RU (Planning Ref. 12/00482/FULL)
These three farms have 'clubbed' together, and have just put in for planning permission for three turbines (204ft/63m). These are located on the other side of Kelly Law and will provide a visual link to the 300+ft Wind Turbines that the University is proposing at Kenly Farm.....!


Some of our most beautiful, ecologically sensitive and important site are under real threat from these developers, who will simply be taking the money elsewhere, leaving our own local economy in tatters, and our countryside and ecology ruined.


Please put your Objections in to the Council and let them know that NE Fife is not the place for large-scale Turbine Developments.


How to Object:


1. On-line at www.planning.fife.gov.uk/online/
You can lodge your objection to any, or all of the above planning applications at the Council's planning web site. Simply put the name or reference number into the search engine, to bring up the application, and type away....


2. By e-mail to development.central@fife.gov.uk.
You must write your letter of objection and save it as a PDF before sending it as an attachment to the above e-mail address. It's always useful to send a copy of it to the following individuals as well while you're at it....!
jim.birrell@fife.gov.uk
cllrmikescotthayward@msn.com
cllr.elizabeth.riches@fife.gov.uk
cllr.donald.macgregor@fife.gov.uk
cllr.andrew.arbuckle@fife.gov.uk
Roderick.Campbell.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
fife_office@mingcampbell.org.uk



3. Or you can simply send a letter by traditional post to 
Enterprise, Planning and Protective Services
Forth House
Abbotshall Road
Kirkcaldy  
KY1 1RU



You can use the letter about South Baldutho Farm's applications for your template (see post below), but if you need any help with your letters, further information about any of the applications or campaign, or want to be more involved, then e-mail us on scaleeastfife@gmail.com