Hello All

So things are about to get very serious as we are moving towards a crucial time for the Clashndarroch and it’s priceless wildcats. As we all know, the most immediate and large scale threat to this population is the planned development of a second windfarm. We strongly believe that such increased development at the site would be catastrophic for the remaining wildcats.

We have objected and campaigned vociferously for the past 2 to 3 years and now things are coming to a head. As we updated you earlier in the year, the windfarm plans were rejected at the local level and so this triggers a Public Inquiry where a decision will be made at national level. The Pre Inquiry meeting is planned for the 15th of September next week and our team have been working extremely hard to ensure that our concerns over the impact on the wildcats will be heard at both the pre inquiry meeting and of course the full Public Inquiry hearing due in the new year.

Be in no doubt that this will be a serious undertaking and we will up against a huge company, Vattenfall and we already know they have put together a very expensive legal team to push this through. However there are also other dynamics at play here that beggar belief. We have recently been informed that the government department, who is responsible for protecting all wildlife in Scotland, including the wildcat, will NOT be objecting to the windfarm. The government department called Nature Scot, (formally SNH) have previously declared the Clashindarroch, a ‘Wildcat wonderland’ and they have confirmed the presence of wildcats there on numerous occasions. You would therefore think that they would be the first in line to try and stop this development so as to ensure the safety of this wildcat population. However they are going to stand aside and say nothing on behalf of the wildcat. 

We are exceptionally disappointed by this but are in no way surprised. Remember they have form. We have previously shown you that their structure supposedly in place to conserve wildcats, called ‘Saving wildcats’, has actually been used as a cover by other government departments to allow the logging of the Clashindarroch for commercial timber. We have also shown you that Vattenfall have actually been training Nature Scot staff. All very cosy. You really couldn’t make this stuff up.

It gets worse. We have also shown you that currently there is no land deal in place between the government and  Vattenfall for the second windfarm, yet Vattenfall is going full steam ahead. This all begs the question, who is giving the assurances to them that it is worth them spend millions in the planning process to get the permissions they need. Who is telling the government’s environmental agency to step aside and not object to this development. We simply don’t have the answers to these questions but it seems clear that this whole thing stinks.

So, what do we do, we either feel overwhelmed and give up, or we fight. We will of course fight and do everything we possibly can to stop this. We are going to need to serious resources in place both for the Public Inquiry that will happen early next year and for any judicial review that may be required.

If you want to join us in a battle that we simply have to win for the wildcat, then you can contribute to our crowdjustice campaign below;

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/wildcats/

We are getting ourselves ready for fight ahead, we really hope you will be behind us all the way.

All the very best

The Wildcat Haven Team