Between Thursday 12th January and Sunday 22nd January a team of local people went around the Dunbar, West Barns and East Linton ward of East Lothian asking people for their opinion on wind turbines. They visited homes in all areas, from Tyninghame to Oldhamstocks including Stenton, Skateraw and Spott. The team also talked to people outside ASDA, local schools and on Dunbar High Street.
They gathered opinion from over 500 households, almost 10% of the total households in our area. People were asked to score between 1 and 10 and we have compiled the results as (Score 1-4 = don’t like. Score 5-6 = not bothered. Score 7-10 = like)
We are still compiling the results and separating then into individual areas.
When asked, Do you like private wind turbines in our area? We see that almost half of the people like wind turbines. A third of people do not like them.
When asked, Do you like community wind turbines in our area? Over two thirds of local people like the idea with less people not liking the idea.
We then asked, Do you support the idea of a community wind turbine on Cocklaw Hill? We see that most people like the idea.
It was also very important to ask how local people would like to spend the money made from community energy. People voted for energy advice services, local transport initiatives and practical skills workshops but more people voted for “Support for new local businesses” than anything else.
Details of what people thought can be found here What would you like the money spent on?
This did not surprise us. The Residents Satisfaction Survey of 2011 showed that people were concerned about local jobs. The Dunbar Community Energy Company will now work out a way of turning the money from community energy into a support system for local businesses. It is important that this does not have a bad effect on existing local businesses.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete a survey and to the excellent team who went door to door to collect public opinion.