Description:  
ScottishPower's plans for a windfarm at Whitelee Forest, 10 miles south of Glasgow, have received considerable support from the public who attended the company's roadshow into the £150m project.

Around 65 per cent of visitors who filled in a questionnaire were in favour of Whitelee Forest as a location for the windfarm. Only eleven per cent were against, with the remainder undecided.

ScottishPower is organising trips in the near future for 80 per cent of those who accepted the company's invitation to visit a windfarm over the next few months.

ScottishPower's mobile exhibition last week attracted a total of around 270 visitors and took in Kilmarnock, Darvel, Stewarton, Newton Mearns, Strathaven, Eaglesham and East Kilbride.

The company was delighted with the favourable response, which showed overwhelming approval not just for the windfarm but for moves to utilise Scotland's ample wind resources to generate electricity.

The results revealed that nearly 90 per cent of respondents had seen a windfarm - 25 per cent had visited one and a broad concern was evident for environmental issues in the widest sense, including the potential affects of climate change.

Visitors regarded the reduction in emissions as the main benefit of the Whitelee Forest project (32per cent) along with widened diversity of generating sources (25.3) and generation of energy from a renewable resource (22.4). Thirteen per cent thought new jobs a significant issue.

The potentially negative impacts discussed with ScottishPower staff at the exhibitions included visibility, noise and inconvenience during construction, though a sizeable number felt the project would have no significant effect.

Alan Mortimer, ScottishPower's Head of Wind Development, said the exhibitions had proved very successful for communicating the details of the proposed windfarm to people living in the area.

"This is a very useful exercise for us and is a major part of our consultation process. In the past we have found that exhibitions and also site visits go a long way to allaying apprehensions people might have about windfarms, particularly on noise and integration with the landscape".

The exhibitions gave details of the location of the windfarm, which will be one of the biggest in the UK if approved. It will comprise 140 turbines with a capacity of 240 megawatts, which is sufficient to generate enough electricity to power 150,000 homes.

Extensive consultations will continue alongside work to prepare a full assessment of the windfarm's environmental impact, which will form the basis of a planning application due for submission to the local authorities later this year.

Further Information:

ScottishPower Press Office.
Gordon Laidlaw Colin McSeveny                      0141 248 8200