Readers' letters

WIND IS 'WASTED RESOURCE'

Dear Ed, — Your P3 report, on Thursday, May 27, on the proposed extension to the Clyde Wind Farm is typical of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Scottish Power's wind farm subsiduaries.

Blacklaw Wind Farm between Carluke, Forth and Allanton now has an extension application and Tormywheel Wind Farm is already approved at the A706/A704 junction on the Breich/Forth Moor.

Hagshaw Hill Wind Farm near Douglas already has its extension which notably covers a greater area with higher turbines than the original windfarm.

Adjacent to it is the permission granted, Nutberry Hill Wind Farm with the adjoining Galawhistle Wind Farm in the council planning system.

Domino windfarm and extension applications are unfortunately the norm.

Areas of South Lanarkshire and elsewhere will become a permanently degraded mechanised landscape.

Whitelee Wind Farm, South of East Kilbride yet visible to most of South and North Lanarkshire and the largest in Europe, already has its extension approved.

All wind farm applications claim that they displace fossil fuel generated electricity but nothing could be further from the truth.

Reliable electricity generation cannot be displaced by variable, intermittent and unpredictable generation like wind farm electricity without causing instability in the electricity supply.

Because wind farm generation is unreliable it needs a constant 24/7 power station backup to ensure a stable electricity supply.

The total closure of Whitelee Wind Farm in March 2010 because of a turbine blade break caused no power cuts although it is claimed that Whitelee Wind Farm can supply 180,000 homes.

No households were affected by power cuts because of the standby backup all wind farms need.

Wind farms are a waste of resources, landscape, environment, nature, and of course the taxpayer's and electricity consumer's subsidies which pay for them and make them highly profitable.

All wind farm claims of countering climate change are conjectural and there is no evidence from any country that emissions are reduced as a result of wind farms. — Yours etc.,

MR ANDREW R NELSON,

Scarletmuir,

LANARK.

FORUM IS OPEN

Dear Ed, — The following article appeared in the Gazette recently under the Rigside and Douglas Water reports.

''FORUM — The monthly meeting of the Clydesdale South Local Housing Forum took place on Tuesday, April 21.

Members of the forum had a debate on how forums should be run.

It was suggested that anyone interested in the position of chairperson should put their name forward, and if there were more than one entered, it would be chosen at random from a hat.

Some residents of the forum think this is a very childish way; it seems as the residents do not have a say and some members don't think it is right as all have to live in the same communities.''

The author is as yet unknown but what is clear is that the individual has gotten their wires crossed somewhere along the line.

The name of the forum is Clydesdale South Area Housing Forum.

As its name indicates, it was set up to give the public an opportunity to contribute and monitor the systems in place by which the housing services of the local authority are run.

A number of issues did come up for discussion at that particular meeting. The running of the forum was discussed.

Jean Ramage, representing Rigside and Residents Association, insisted upon a recognised system for selecting the Chair of the forum.

Scott Sinclair, of the Town of Lanark Tenants Forum, raised the issue of discipline, and asked that a recognised Code of Conduct be drawn up, and this be added to the already existing Standards of Operation, by which all area forums throughout South Lanarkshire are regulated.

The issue of selection by way of 'out of the hat' was in fact in relation to a pair of delegates going to represent the Clydesdale South Area Housing Forum at the up and coming Tenants Advisory Service Conference in October.

The statement in relation to ''residents having no say'' is rather vague to say the least. The Clydesdale South Area Housing Forum is open to anyone living in the recognised catchment area.

To our knowledge, no resident has ever been purposely excluded from the Clydesdale South Area Housing Forum.

We at the Town of Lanark's Tenants' Forum send along representatives each month and also supply people to represent Clydesdale South Area Housing Forum at Hamilton and further afield.

These reps collect information from Hamilton and other areas, bring this to the forum for discussion and, where appropriate, return to Hamilton with a response from the forum. — Yours etc.,

SCOTT SINCLAIR,

Secretary,

The Lanark Town Forum.

GET ON SHIPS LIST

Dear Ed, — May I extend an invitation to any reader who has served in the Electrical, Radio, Radar, Weapons or Control Branch of the Royal Navy and is looking for his ex shipmates, to join the Royal Navy Electrical Branch Association with its new search facility?

The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association is designed to reunite you with your old shipmates via membership lists, a regular newsletter and the ever popular Reunions.

Further details and the latest colour newsletter are available from Mike Crowe, RNEBA, 7 Heath Road, Lake, Sandown, Isle of Wight, PO36 8PG or email [email protected].

Thanks to a member's suggestion, we are implementing a comprehensive 'Member's Ships List' in order that we can search out your old shipmates and contact you when we find someone you served with. We will not tell them you are in the Association, we will ask you if you want contact first!

Contact me now, find your ex shipmates and start swinging that lamp with them. — Yours etc.,

MIKE CROWE,

Isle of Wight.