Cole-Hamilton to Swinney: When will communities properly benefit from renewables projects?

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that local communities are “shivering in the shadow of turbines” as he challenged the First Minister on the Scottish Government’s outdated guidance, which means local communities are not properly benefiting from hosting renewable energy projects.

Speaking during First Minister’s Questions, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“When companies generate renewable energy, they are expected to give money back to the local community.

“But the amount of cash we’re talking about is absolutely pitiful because the rules haven’t changed in more than a decade.

“All the while, people are still shivering in the shadow of turbines, unable to heat their homes.

“So will the Scottish Government listen to the Liberal Democrats, to Highland Council, to Shetland Council, and change those rules to cut energy bills for local people?”

He went onto say:

“Yesterday, I was in North Edinburgh with Ed Davey and Councillor Sanne Dijkstra-Downie. We met Edinburgh College apprentices who are being trained for good green jobs: installing home insulation, solar panels, heat pumps.

“Technologies, ready to go, and at the heart of the Liberal Democrats’ realistic plan to halve household energy bills by 2035.

“John Swinney’s own independent advisors now say his government is “extremely unlikely” to meet its fuel poverty target.

“They found people catching hypothermia in their own homes, missing meals to top up the meter, burning their own floorboards for fuel.

“The Scottish Government’s consultation on the amount energy companies give back closed six months ago. But nothing’s changed.

“Under Liberal Democrat proposals, there are millions of pounds out there, that could warm homes across Scotland, so when will the First Minister change those rules?”