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Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has dismissed a publicity stunt by the RSPB as ‘childish, meaningless and typical of the patronising and misleading attitude of the organisation’.
The RSPB are due to release maps of cities showing the proposed area to be taken up by a windfarm in Lewis superimposed on cities in the UK.
Vice-Convener of the Comhairle Mr. Angus Campbell said: “I’m not quite sure what the RSPB are trying to show with this publicity stunt but obviously it is intended to take attention away from the presentation that AMEC, HIE/WIE, the Stornoway Trust and ourselves are giving at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
Are they trying to show that the proposed windfarm is big? We know that. We always have. But Lewis is a large island and superimposing maps on cities is plain silly. Do the RSPB think we haven’t considered its size? Interestingly they fail to mention that the windfarm would only take up 1% of the Special Protected Area.
The Comhairle, the democratically elected represented of the Western Isles, carefully considered all these points in its deliberations of the windfarm proposals and there is nothing new in the information and misinformation being pedalled by the RSPB who no-one has elected.
Interestingly their press release doesn’t mention the people of the Western Isles once. That is significant. They fail to mention the jobs the windfarm will create or the community benefit that will accrue to communities in the Western Isles.
Their publicity stunt is rather childish, meaningless and typical of the patronising attitude of some of those at the top of the organisation. It is also rather curious given that the RSPB supposedly supports windfarm developments.
To use words such as ‘catastrophic’ and ‘disastrous’ is emotive, patronising and uninformed. Where is the evidence to back these claims up? There is none.
Perhaps the RSPB would do well to look at the words of the Deputy Enterprise Minister Allan Wilson who last week stated that the renewable industry would provide economic and environmental benefits for Island areas. The Comhairle agrees with the Minister. Do the RSPB?”
Nigel Scott
Communications Officer
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Tel: 01851 709389 (Work)
Tel: 07884 236103 (Mobile)
email: nscott@cne-siar.gov.uk |
