YOUR VIEWS: Is green energy good for the Highlands, the council tax freeze and Inverness flooding

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What has been exercising readers this week?

How truly ‘green’ are big energy manoeuvres?

As the invasive tentacles of Big “green” Energy and its devastating infrastructure spread with a vengeance across rural Scotland we are regularly subjected to the politicians’ and industry’s “buzz words” to persuade us that succumbing to the industrialisation of where we live is for the “greater good”.

Greater good for whom? Not Scotland and certainly not the innocents who are steamrollered out of the way by multinational companies with no connection or love for the areas they spear their industrial junk in to.

“Green” electricity doesn’t exist if it is produced at the expense of the environment, wildlife, communities and their peace and enjoyment of living in their homes.

“Clean” generation can’t exist if it relies on fossil fuels and massively increases demand for metal and rare earth mining, much of it unregulated and highly polluting, for its manufacture, construction, operation and back up.

Communities “hosting” these massive “green” power stations insinuates that they were invited to do so and happily accepted. In the natural world hosts are needed by parasites to feed off them to survive. They destroy and suck the life blood out of their targets. As rural people feel in despair, helpless and downtrodden by the Scottish Government-backed “green” invaders it is understandable where the word “host” came from.

The phrases “just transition” and “wind parks” are about as ludicrous as they can be. Where is the “just transmission” in areas where vast pylon lines and substations are threatened? Where is the amenity and pleasure in seeing monstrous rotating cash machines slicing through once peaceful and undisturbed vistas?

“Net Zero” is bandied about with no figures or data to back up what it means to us financially or environmentally. How much more industrialisation does Scotland need on its hills, mountains and in its rural communities and glens before we reach this elusive target? Can our elected representatives just be honest and tell us the facts? We are not stupid and it is time they stopped treating us like we are.

The faux “green” movement has been allowed to become all powerful and seemingly without accountability. They are in government, shaping policies and the beneficiaries of their actions are filling their shareholders’ bank accounts with our hard earned money while our land and oceans are sacrificed on their warped altar of “sustainability”.

The deceptive cloak of “green” attempts to hide the inconvenient truth of what is fast being revealed as anything but by those who are prepared to stand up and say no to the immoral and destructive policies being forced upon them. Our politicians need to pick a side. They are either with us or against us.

Lyndsey Ward

Spokeswoman for Communitie4s B4 Power Companies

Beauly

• Angling Club questions Highland Council land use right

• Highland Council is openly talking about redundancies

• Finalists named for Inverness City Centre Business Awards

Council tax freeze means service cuts

Well the First Minister has made it easy for any sensible voter at the next election. The choice is do we want front line services or not?

I have been lucky throughout my life in that ourselves and the family have required very little of the frontline services that were on offer. But I have also witnessed families that have required help with bringing up disabled children into adulthood.

When the SNP first instituted their policy of a freeze on council tax as a vote winner it worked, for on the back of it the SNP got in with a large majority.

For a couple of years we were inundated by the SNP propaganda machine about their brilliant accounting acumen. The policy was simple – the SNP government would make up the difference in what councils could have raised from central funding.

But with all the money being wasted on grandiose schemes the funding available for councils got less and less.

We started to see services that the councils had no legal requirement to fund disappear, they then had to raid reserves to keep legally required essential frontline services going, but at a much reduced level than before. Eventually councils started to object and indicated to the central government that they were going to raise council tax.

The SNP threatened any council that did that (Moray was one of them) that they would withdraw funding.

The SNP back-tracked and eventually allowed the councils to start raising revenue locally once more. But of course the damage was done – our frontline services existed in name alone.

Throughout this I witnessed families who relied on these services for the wellbeing of the children go downhill, to the detriment of their own health.

Any chance of the frontline services recovering to their former level has been dashed by the First Minister’s announcement.

So there you have it. Hopefully there are enough of us to vote the SNP out of government.

Finlay G Mackintosh

Forres

Thanks for hospital staff

I write to congratulate the Day Case surgical team at Raigmore Hospital headed by Mr Wolf who attended to my needs and requirements earlier today (19/10/23).

Both my wife and I were treated with compassion, kindness and professionalism for the duration of my short stay for the surgical procedure I was in for.

I should be very grateful if you could please pass on this message to all the staff on duty this afternoon and especially to SN Camilla.

Name and address supplied

City needs more flood defences?

It would be prudent for Highland Council to return to look again at building flood defences from the Ness Bridge to the Infirmary Bridge following the horrendous flooding in Brechin and sounding area instead of the works on Academy Street which we can well do without.

IJ Frasier

Inverness

Letters should be submitted to newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk. Please include your address and a daytime contact number. You can also tweet us: @InvCourier or leave a comment on Facebook a@invernesscourier

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