[Uig Loch, Isle of Lewis: © Andrew Dunn, 2002, reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0 License]

“Fàilte. Ciamar a tha sibh?” I bring you hot news from one of the biggest Green punch ups in the world, currently taking place on the beautiful Isle of Lewis (Eilean Leòdhais) in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

This lonely land of peat and Presbyterians has been the scene of an epic battle between those desperate to conserve the traditional landscapes and wildlife of the island and those wishing to to erect 176 colossal wind turbines.

Now, as The Scotsman reports (‘March of the wind farm in doubt on a divided island’, January 26), yesterday:

“... the ‘naes’ could scent victory in the air when the Scottish Government wrote to the developer, Ameco, saying it was ‘minded to refuse’ planning permission. However, ministers gave the company 21 days to address the concerns listed in a 14-page letter.

The fate of the Lewis wind farm is far from just a barrage of hot air among island folk. It goes to the heart of Scotland’s attempt to generate 50 per cent of its electricity using renewables, such as hydro, wave or wind power, by 2020.”

Despite this, the Green line-up against the Lewis windfarm has been formidable, and includes Scottish Natural Heritage, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and the majority of those crofters and villagers who face being confronted by a vista of rotating giants. It is reported that, of the 9,500 public representations to the Scottish Government, a mere 77 were in favour.

This is a classic Green-on-Green confrontation brought about by ‘global warming’ hysteria. Currently, Scotland produces 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of electricity through ‘renewables’. Within the next 12 years, this has to rise to 6 GW. The Lewis wind farm would have the capacity to produce 0.651 GW, 11 per cent of Scotland’s total ‘renewables’ requirement.

So watch this space. The final decision [due in three weeks or so] will tell us everything we need to know about the true viability of  the UK’s hot air over the push for ‘renewables’.

Yet, as the Stornoway Gazette (‘Windfarm plans rejected by Government’, January 25) reports, Alasdair Allan, the MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] for the Western Isles, is quite satisfied that the right decision had been taken:

"’It’s clear that the government have indicated that they are minded to turn the application down on environmental grounds,’ he said.

‘I have said all along that the development planned for North Lewis was on a scale and in a location that was simply unacceptable to the communities concerned.’

“I am certainly pleased that the government has reached the right decision. This has been a long-running and at times divisive issue.’”

And one local will most certainly be raising a toast: “Slàinte!”

“... sitting in an armchair in front of a window that displays the brooding beauty of the peatlands, Finlay Macleod, writer, broadcaster and ardent campaigner against the project, said the wind farm would utterly alter the island landscape.

‘Six huge quarries, 100 miles of road and hundreds of these massive turbines – it would be unrecognisable,’ he said.

His reaction to the news that the plans look like being rejected? ‘That makes it one of the most important days in the history of Lewis,’ he said.”

Moreover, if Scottish ministers eventually confirm that they are not just “minded not to grant planning permission” but are actually refusing permission outright, then it will also be one of the most important days for the Government’s La-La Land ‘renewables’ policy.

The words “nail” and “coffin” cross one’s mind.

Personally, I should be delighted to see alternative, and genuine, ecological concerns overthrowing ‘global warming’ madness on the exquisite Eilean an Fhraoich , ‘The Heather Isle’, land of the golden eagle.

“Slàn leibh. Tapadh leibh.”

In the immortal words of Hamish and Dougal: “You'll have had your tea?”