GETTING THE WIND UP

You can always rely on the Berwickshire News letter column to strike the right note on 'issues' of the moment

SIR, - There is currently a public enquiry into an appeal by three wind farm developers taking place south of the border at the Maltings, Berwick.
The wind farms would be sited at Moorsyde, Barmoor and Toft Hill. Various disruptions to views looking south from Scotland would result were permission for these installations to be granted, not only intruding into a unique landscape but also affecting views towards Flodden Field with a restless, moving and inappropriate industrial element.
Nobody north of the border was ever consulted during any stages of the planning process.
Members of the public will have the chance to present their views to the Inspector on May 27.
A visit to Berwick or a telephone call to Northumberland County Council should provide information about the correct procedure for those who wish to speak.
This is the one chance Scots will have to safeguard what is arguably a national shrine and an indelible part of the Scots psyche.
‘BRAVEHEART’,

So it is not just our own Pheonix Reiver (see post below) who deplores the connection between Flodden Field and a proposed wind farm. It is interesting that a defeat in a major (if totally unnecessary) battle is part of the Scottish psyche. Which disastrous military debacles have entered into the English soul, Huttonian wonders?. The Aussies have Gallipoli which they (rightly) blame on British (not all of them English) generals but from my schooldays I can only remember being taught about English or British victories from Agincourt to Alamein. Defeats, if any, were glamourised : 'A Bridge too Far' being a case in point-and Dunkirk is also remembered as a victory.

And who will Braveheart blame defeat at Flodden on? James IV. I doubt it. The Borderers? Unlikely. The English who out fought and out manoeuvred the Scots,

Certainly.

And now its English wind turbines which are desecrating a sacred site.

Me I am opening an appeal for a memorial to satisfy both sets of bruised nationalistic psyches.

Put it half way across Coldstream Bridge

To the Unknown Reiver

Labels: Flodden, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 9:37 AM