Hi All
So things are hotting up. We recently informed you of the great news that there would be a session held about wildcats in the Public inquiry regarding the proposed Vattenfall windfarm in the Clashindarroch. This will take place in late Feb 2022 and is a great chance for us to present the case to stop this development. 

As part of the process it is normal practice for the applicant ( Vattenfall) to disclose relevant information such as that contained in the Environmental Impact  Assessment. They have disclosed some information but have crucially withheld information in what they call ‘Confidential annexes’.  This is where the details of their Wildcat surveys are held. We have tried for  over a year to obtain this vital information. Following the recent Pre Inquiry meeting, the Inquiry had instructed Vattenfall to provide our legal and ecological experts with the confidential annexes and given them a strict deadline. It will come as no surprise that Vattenfall have failed to give us the information. The deadline was last Friday. It is abundantly clear that the information contained within those confidential annexes is likely to be very  damaging to their application and so they are simply refusing to release it. We will of course be making the case to the Inquiry that this is a blatant attempt to deliberately withhold information with the purpose of preventing proper and lawful scrutiny. 

As you know we are in this to the end. If they don’t disclose this information and the windfarm is ultimately granted permission by Ministers, then we will have very strong grounds to legally object and take this all the way to a Judicial Review. In that situation, an application will be made for a court order to obtain the documents.

It is deeply saddening that a massive company, owned by the Swedish government, who claim to be committed to conserving biodiversity, are behaving in such an arrogant, disrespectful and obstructive way. They are clearly more than happy to put profits above the survival of the Scottish wildcat. Given that the Scottish Government’s environment agency (SNH) refuse to object to this windfarm and stand up to protect  the wildcat ( even though that is their remit), the Scottish government are clearly also complicit in this profiteering. 

So we continue on, more determined than ever to get to the truth and to stop this windfarm. We simply cannot do it without you and your help is needed more than ever. To see this through to the end, we have to reach our legal crowdfunding target. If you feel you can help us, then you can do so at:

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

Thank you so very much
The Wildcat Haven Team