View Full Version : Dr E Scott MSP
mickey101
30-Jun-06, 19:11
Hi
This thread is not directly to do with Asda but what I read on the front page of this weeks Groat got my blood boiling instantly.
I am sorry for what I am about to say and I will take the heat from those who will be offended.
But I am sick and tired of Mrs Scott's attempt to interfere with this county. I am sick and tired of her trying to turn Caithness into a Green Utopia where we all live in caves or quaint stone cottages. We have no shops and we grow all our own food. We abandon our cars in favour of a horse and cart and don't travel further than the next village to sell or barter our wares with our fellow simple county dewellers.
Sorry Mrs Scott that isnt going to happen. I would like you yes YOU to answer a few simple questions. Honestly as you can ( which for a politician will be a significant achievement)
1) Where do you live?
2) Where do you shop?
3) I assume your high principals ensure that you never set foot in a Supermarket outlet ( oh yeah pull the other one)
4) Where do you buy your petrol/diesel? ( ops sorry I forgot you walk everywhere or use public transport and if you are in a hurry you have your own horse and cart dont you?)
5) How many times have you set foot in this county and honestly talked with the people and tried to understand their point of view. ( not very often if any I would guess)
Because frankly I am fed up of your attitude. The attiude which you think YOU are entitled to as an elected member of that overpriced waste of space in Edinburgh. That you and only YOU suddenly know what is best for Caithness and Sutherland. That only you are privy to the big picture and that we are people too simple to make our own decisions, to be smiled at and looked upon as you would any five year old who is doing something amusing without realising it.
You claim you support Green issue but you would rather see us convoying down to Inverness or across to Wick on a Bi weekly basis to do our shopping than have the same facilities closer to home. THAT IS BEING GREEN opps sorry I forgot I am supposed to have traded in my car for a Horse and Cart by now.
If you havent got the message this county has had it with the way we are treated and we will kick, bite and fight and yes if necessary crucify a councillor or two to drag this county into the current century
I used to think the Green party had many good points but now I can happily report I will never consider the Green party as anything other than a bunch of looney tunes. There stance on a New Forth road bridge and Dual carriagewaying the A9 between Inverness and Perth was the absolute clincher for me.
I await the flak and yes just to pre- empt the first salvo she is fully entitled to her opinion but I would prefer to hear it than taste it as it is rammed down our throats.
M
Well put - I agree 110% with everything you have said and I am sure there are many more like me.
Well said, she made my blood boil too with her comments, who does she think she is, as for the questions you posed her, I would like to hear her answers I'm sure they would be very interesting.
It's just another case of our lives being run by people who live in cloud coockoo land.
I totally agree with all thats said who on earth does this woman think she is? more to the point who on earth voted for her????????
Murdina Bug
01-Jul-06, 21:16
Is there a full moon about just now? It's just that there is a lot of baying for blood around..... :eek:
The second part of the Article on this page gives some idea about Eleanor Scotts “Green” credentials.
http://www.whfp.com/1624/editor.html
In 2001 she was the Green Party Candidate for the Westminster Parliament for the Constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber. She gathered the grand total of 699 votes and came fifth..
It would appear that she became an MSP as a result of the List System when the Green Party again came fifth with less than 10 percent of the votes.
There are no directly elected Green MSPs, every one is there as a result of “Buggins Law” whereby they are there because their Party stuck them at the top of the Candidates they had decided they themselves wanted to be at Holyrood. Their total number of MSPs amounts to just over 5 percent of the total yet Eleanor Scott speaks as if she spoke for a huge majority of voters. .
Eleanor Scott, it would seem, makes a lot of statements about “what Caithness wants” and, strangely enough, such statements always seem to coincide with her and her Party’s particular view of the World.
As a matter of interest, has anybody any knowledge of her actually seeking to discover what the wishes of the people of Caithness are on any subject at all?
Considering she seems so convinced she knows exactly what our opinions are they seems strangely at variance with what would appear to be the reality of Caithnessian’s feelings.
Any details of her prior background, both Political and Private, seem remarkably lacking. All I have found are where she is from, her places of Education, her occupation just prior to becoming an MSP and a list dates of fairly recent elections in which she would appear previously to have failed as a Candidate.
Her political activities and beliefs for around the first forty or so years of her life are strangely blank as are any reasons for her apparently sudden interest in Politics.
I too get irritated by her constant pronouncements about the wishes of the people of Caithness which appear to be more like "Pie in the Sky" than anything of substance.
willowbankbear
01-Jul-06, 21:49
Hi
This thread is not directly to do with Asda but what I read on the front page of this weeks Groat got my blood boiling instantly.
I am sorry for what I am about to say and I will take the heat from those who will be offended.
But I am sick and tired of Mrs Scott's attempt to interfere with this county. I am sick and tired of her trying to turn Caithness into a Green Utopia where we all live in caves or quaint stone cottages. We have no shops and we grow all our own food. We abandon our cars in favour of a horse and cart and don't travel further than the next village to sell or barter our wares with our fellow simple county dewellers.
Sorry Mrs Scott that isnt going to happen. I would like you yes YOU to answer a few simple questions. Honestly as you can ( which for a politician will be a significant achievement)
1) Where do you live?
2) Where do you shop?
3) I assume your high principals ensure that you never set foot in a Supermarket outlet ( oh yeah pull the other one)
4) Where do you buy your petrol/diesel? ( ops sorry I forgot you walk everywhere or use public transport and if you are in a hurry you have your own horse and cart dont you?)
5) How many times have you set foot in this county and honestly talked with the people and tried to understand their point of view. ( not very often if any I would guess)
Because frankly I am fed up of your attitude. The attiude which you think YOU are entitled to as an elected member of that overpriced waste of space in Edinburgh. That you and only YOU suddenly know what is best for Caithness and Sutherland. That only you are privy to the big picture and that we are people too simple to make our own decisions, to be smiled at and looked upon as you would any five year old who is doing something amusing without realising it.
You claim you support Green issue but you would rather see us convoying down to Inverness or across to Wick on a Bi weekly basis to do our shopping than have the same facilities closer to home. THAT IS BEING GREEN opps sorry I forgot I am supposed to have traded in my car for a Horse and Cart by now.
If you havent got the message this county has had it with the way we are treated and we will kick, bite and fight and yes if necessary crucify a councillor or two to drag this county into the current century
I used to think the Green party had many good points but now I can happily report I will never consider the Green party as anything other than a bunch of looney tunes. There stance on a New Forth road bridge and Dual carriagewaying the A9 between Inverness and Perth was the absolute clincher for me.
I await the flak and yes just to pre- empt the first salvo she is fully entitled to her opinion but I would prefer to hear it than taste it as it is rammed down our throats.
M
Excellent post, Im sure you will agree
From what I've read of her public utterances, Dr Eleanor Scott MSP is an archetypical Green - an expert at mouthing platitudes, and utterly incapable of independent research on anything of substance. She makes her partner look like an intellectual.
mickey101
02-Jul-06, 02:47
Hi
I am glad people have read my thread and agree with what I have written. It may come as no surprise that Dr Scott has not replied to me in any shape or form.
I would suspect that she does know about my opinion but chooses to ignore me ( opps I keep forgetting I am akinto a five year old and too simple to grasp the bigger picture).
I doubt if she has the guts or the brain to attempt to defend herself in an open public forum.
She may be psuedo green but she is a politician after all.
M
ps The next step is a letter to the shy retiring lady I think.
Hi Folks, I fully agreed with what Mickey101 has written, and, being jarred off waiting, I emailed down to Edinburgh on July 11th direct to Dr Scott with mickey101's comment and asked her for her thoughts - well eventually reply came back on the 1st Aug. Had a look all over the site but can't find it - well it 'aint private (as it was going to be posted by her assistant) so here 'tiz:
Dear Mr XXXXX
Thank you for passing on the comments. I don't know whether it's my poor internet skills (probably is) but I find Caithness.org hard to navigate so I'm grateful to you for letting me know what's being said.
I must say I felt the writer's reaction was a bit extreme - just not wanting a large globalised company with a reputation for screwing producers and underpaying employees to come to an area where it would certainly lead to the demise of many local businesses seems a long way from wanting people to return to a mediaeval way of life!
For the record:
1. I live in Evanton
2. I shop in the local village shop (it's a small Coop), local shops in Alness and Dingwall and occasionally Somerfield in Alness. I have never been inside the big Tesco's in Dingwall and don't intend to, though I used to shop there when it was the previous, smaller one.
3. I also used to shop in the Safeway in Alness before it became Morrison's - I believed at that time that it would keep people in Easter Ross and stop them going to Inverness to shop. It didn't.
4. I don't have a car but do drive my partner's at times. I buy diesel from petrol stations - choice a bit restricted due to some having closed because of the big Tesco's.
5. I worked in Caithness in the early 90's, covering during a staff shortage - I do keep in contact with the area, and it's fair to say that a range of views are held there.
I'll get my more computer literate assistant to put the above on the website.
thanks again
Yours in peace
Eleanor Scott
Naefearjustbeer
04-Aug-06, 21:53
I dont think she got any votes directly. She was given a seat by some sort of proportional caculations if I remember correctly
I must say I felt the writer's reaction was a bit extreme From the Groat/Courier website: (http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/428/CoRWM_report_re-ignites_nuke_waste_row.html)
Dr Scott said: “Although the report recommends a potential 'road map’ for some time in the future, it is clear that there is still no 'solution’ to the problem of nuclear waste. It is inevitable that some irresponsible pro-nuclear lobbyists may suggest this means the problem has been resolved but their fanaticism is unlikely to be taken seriously.”
I must say I felt the writer's reaction was a bit extreme. :cool:
Btw, this particular DrS says: "Never trust anyone who signs herself Dr <Something> when trying to argue a point." To her credit, the lady in question didn't do that.
For the record: one of my own Green List MEPs said something I agreed with recently. This has never happened before.
The other one, Robin Harper, is much more sensible. But then he was supposedly born in Thurso, so not too suprising really. ;)
mickey101
04-Aug-06, 22:36
Hi
Well as the person who kicked off this thread I will reply to Dr Scotts comments.
1) first off Fair credit to the lady for actaully answering my comments. I hadn't actually got round to writing to her as my business interests kept me away from Caithness.
2) My comments were not just related to the ASDA/TESCO issue but her attitude in general. She doesnt live here so as far as I am concerned she has zero right to meddle in this county's affairs or ram her opinion down our throats.
3) Living up here in the early 90's as far as I am concerned doesnt count nor do I believe she is in anyway " in touch" with local opinion.
4) I happen to disagree with her over Nuclear Power but then again I am an engineer and therefore able to grasp such issues as "Base Load", " Grid Instability" and the fact that it takes more energy to make a Wind Generator than it ever makes back in it's lifetime of operation. YEAP its true but they never tell you that.
At best a wind turbine is operational for 18% of the time. The rest of the time the wind is either too weak ( chance would be a fine thing up here) and too strong. We have no control of when we can or cannot get power from them and we cant store it efficiently.
5) If and a big IF she ever becomes an elected member of that Overpriced Useless waste of space in Edinburgh ( trust me it looks worse in person than it ever did in pictures) then she has a right to spout forth. I suspect it will be a cold day in Caithness when that happens, which will be soon as the lights will shortly be going out as we wait for our wind turbines to start generating again. Short sighted blinkered people like the greens will ensure we dont have any conventional or Nuclear generating capacity left.
Finally and yes I cant resist this as my retired mother( and claims she is from the wrong generation) happily manages to navigate this site what does that say for Dr Scott?
M
the fact that it takes more energy to make a Wind Generator than it ever makes back in it's lifetime of operation. YEAP its true but they never tell you that.'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
npower may be evil but they not be stupid.
'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
npower may be evil but they not be stupid.
I'm glad that you pointed that out, it saved me the bother. Though I think your estimate of 3-5 months is a tad optimistic (I reckon 1-2 years) it never-the-less serves the point.
orkneylass
05-Aug-06, 09:27
Whatever the costs I am just back from staying next to a windfarm in Cornwall and was transfixed by the beauty of the turbines - quiet and majestic, I would be hapy to have one built near my home. However, this is not to get involved in your comments about your MSP as I agree that communities should be consulted and MSPs should represent them, and not their own hobby horses.
mickey101
05-Aug-06, 10:55
Hi
I would be interested to see your figures regarding pay back on wind turbines. Taking the total cost i would doubt it would be payed back anything like as soon. In my defence I do not have the info to back up my claim, although I will try and find it. Wind turbines are the most expensive way to generate power( by a factor of 10) so that short a payback i would be very surprised at.
Mike
mickey101
05-Aug-06, 11:10
Hi
Just to hold my hand up on that one point in my reply to Doctor Scott. The consistant figure ( too consistant as an engineer that makes me suspicious) seems to be payback 3 to 5 months and generation over a wind turbines life time 30 times its manufacturing costs. I unfortuantely cant find any evidence to back up my claim, I found this info from a quick scoot on the internet. ( something else Dr Scott needs assistance to use)
Regardless we still cant store the power when we have an excess and use it when we need it.
However we digress off the point regarding Dr Scott and in her opinion her electoral mandate to stick her nose in when she was voted for by less than 10% of the population.
M
I was waiting to see if someone was going to post what was said in the article in the Groat.. I'd like to see it if anyones got a link or a scan.
mickey101
05-Aug-06, 13:29
Hi
As I am a bit out of touch what are you refering to in the Groat?
M
Hi
I would be interested to see your figures regarding pay back on wind turbines. Taking the total cost i would doubt it would be payed back anything like as soon. In my defence I do not have the info to back up my claim, although I will try and find it. Wind turbines are the most expensive way to generate power( by a factor of 10) so that short a payback i would be very surprised at.
Mike
Well you start by calculating how much energy is generated by a windturbine over its lifetime, that is the easy part. Then you compare that with the energy which is used to make the components that go into a turbine. For an engineer that should be fairly straight forward?
BTW, a factor of ten? Where did you get that figure from?:confused
mickey101... I thought it was an article in the Groat that made "your blood boil" I didn't see it... just thought somebody could post it.
Well put - I agree 110% with everything you have said and I am sure there are many more like me.
backing exactly that^^^^^
mickey101
05-Aug-06, 17:56
Hi
Okay on point one. The article was Dr Scotts comments on Asda being declined planning permission. That made my blood boil
Okay point two. Once again it would appear to need to put my hand up. The facor of 10 more expensive appears to be out of date and they are now quoting 2 to 3 times more expensive than conventional power sources.
Rheghead:- thanks for the lesson I really didnt need it!!! One of the big problems is calculating how much you actually get out of a turbine. Even the wind industry will give largely different figures.
Before anyone jumps again I am not against renewables, in fact I am all for them as part of the mix. I am also all for greater efficiencies, bio fuel in our cars, putting serious money into the development of tidal power ( a damn site more predictable than wind) micro generation etc. I think importing gas is lunecy and we have only seen the start of the price hikes.
The point our green friends dont tell you that all of the above all takes time to implement also massive investment. Time we dont have thanks to Politicians successively sticking their collective heads in the sand and punting the difficult decisions to the next guy's watch.
However we digress or is that Di bach. This thread is all about Dr Scott and her god given belief that she can lecture to this county ( or so she believes).
If someone want to open a thread on Renewables and the future of energy supply in this country I will happily stick my two pence in.
M
PS Hopefully she will shortly be out of a job as I am sure most people will be more careful where they cast there second vote in the next round of MSP elections
j4bberw0ck
05-Aug-06, 19:26
You must forgive me if I'm missing the point here, but surely the real issue is whether wind turbines (or renewable sources of any sort) reduce overall carbon emissions as compared with, say, an equivalent amount of energy generated by fossil-fuel process?
Wind turbines make economic sense only because the Government introduced the ROC system (my local Village Hall looked at a turbine as a means of generating income thru ROCs). ROCs are Renewables Obligation Certificates, issued to renewable power sources operators and effectively redeemable for cash. It works only because the Government obliges power distributors to buy a % of their total power supplied from renewable sources.
Which means that the price you pay for your power includes an element for the higher price the distributor is forced to pay for some of their power. So ROCs might be seen by a cynic as a means of taxing power usage to subsidise windmills which produce a handsome profit for the developers. And in common with other such "taxes" they affect the poorest most disproportionately (and no, I'm not a socialist, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Capitalist :lol: ). Personally, I believe the whole thing is porrly thought out and a political stunt to make everyone believe that the Government is acting decisively.
But back to CO2 emissions....... wind turbines manufacture produces huge amounts of CO2 - ores to be mined and transported, steel to be smelted, concrete to be manufactured. Concrete manufacture is the most efficient way industry has of putting CO2 into the atmosphere, at one tonne per tonne of concrete manufactured. My doubt revolves around the proportion of their time that wind turbines produce power; I've been unable so far to find any information about CO2 release per MW generated per unit time, for instance.
I'm very suspicious about this "cost per unit of power" argument. Wind generated power only compares with the cost of fossil fuel power because of ROCs; and yet that's the one consistent thread through all the pro-windpower websites. There's little said about overall CO2 balance from an asset with a relatively short lifetime and a relatively long generating downtime.
I'm willing to be convinced that windpower is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it sounds like a fart in a colander solution to me......... :eek:
mickey101
05-Aug-06, 19:51
Hi j4bberw0ck
Thanks for the support. I too couldnt find any info to back up the total carbon balance arguement so I was forced to concede the point over the payback time of 3 to 5 months ( which I still dont believe) and came from pro wind turbine websites. ( eg spin, no pun intended)
The Greens lost all creditability in my eyes when i heard there spokesman argueing against a second bridge across the Forth. No amount of traffic reduction is going to stop the cable corroding. But the Greens still harp on in the same vain.
Thanks for the support. .
Here, have some more, I agree with everything that you have said about Eleanor Scott. She is an interfering politician. There is no doubt that she cares for the environment though, I just have my reservations about how she goes about bringing green issues to the notice of the general public. Perhaps it is the fault of the Green Party. They have a PR battle on their hands at gaining public support while trying to stop people do what they want to do. Perhaps they would perform better just trying to be a pressure group rather than a political party?
Originally Posted by crayola
'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
I'm glad that you pointed that out, it saved me the bother. Though I think your estimate of 3-5 months is a tad optimistic (I reckon 1-2 years) it never-the-less serves the point.
Crayola and Rheghead, what are these estimates based on?
ywindy
Crayola, what do you consider to be "low financial and environmental costs"? How is this calculated?
Originally Posted by crayola
'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
Crayola and Rheghead, what are these estimates based on?
ywindy
Crayola, what do you consider to be "low financial and environmental costs"? How is this calculated?Crikey, how should I know? I was only quoting what the evil npower said on the page I linked to. :lol:
Originally Posted by crayola
'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
Crayola and Rheghead, what are these estimates based on?
ywindy
Crayola, what do you consider to be "low financial and environmental costs"? How is this calculated?
Well I have gone chiefly on wind websites that have given very convincing figures on the energy payback. Plus, I have done ballpark-fagpacket calculations based on the energies of manufacturing of raw materials and they come nowhere near to the energy that a windturbine will produce over its life term. In fact my calculations are approximately 2 orders of magnitude less.
Have you any calculations that discredit their claims?
hey hey... trans-atlantic semantics "ballpark-fagpacket calculations"
anyways... WHO would be better suited to Eleanor Scotts position?? I quite happen to agree with some of the things she "spouts" especially about crofting issues. Thing is not everybody always likes a politician nor is there one out there that everyone will!
Don Quixote
07-Aug-06, 13:07
I to have had an occasion to doubt Dr Scotts awareness of reality.
When the Shebster windfarm was first mooted, I went to see her and explained why it was a bad idea at Shebster. My arguement was that in winter with the sun being low on the horizon, the row of houses at Shebster would be looking through the turbine blades at the sun.
This flicker effect of the sun on the blades can cause people to become ill, headaches etc.
I explained this to Dr Scott ---- her solution, close the blinds/curtains.
I explained that in winter we do not get much daylight in Caithness, she did not care!
Is this whowe want as our "elected" representative?
mickey101
07-Aug-06, 16:30
Hi
I suspect that she is like all politician preaches one thing while doing another and as long as it is not affecting her she is happy to spout the party line dogmatically however when it suits her she will drop it like a hot potatoe.
I would still debate the pay back period of a wind farm is a matter of months if so, why does the government need to subsidise it to the hilt. I think it is a case of the handouts masking the real picture.
But I am open to debate on this issue. But until we get a viable means of storing the power we generate through wind, tidal or solar we will still need to back them up with conventional power generation. And as these units will need to be kept fired up and idiling we etc and therefore pumping co2 into the atmosphere wind as it stands today is not a solution. ( in my opinion)
If we go into back of the fag packet calcs you could cover the UK in Windmills and we still wont make enough power.
For the record I dont have a problem with any politician as long as he/she knows her facts. What gets my goat over Dr Scott is she speaks as if we elected her ( err we didnt) and she and only she knows what is best for us simple Caithness folk.
M
Hi Folks, just found this on the 'green party' website, wonder how Councillor smith feels getting dr Scotts approval!:
Asda has Unfair Advantage over Community of Thurso
— 28 June 2006
The decision by Highland Councillors to refuse planning permission to ASDA for a supermarket in Thurso could be overturned by an appeal process that gives ASDA an unfair advantage over the local community, says Eleanor Scott, Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
Dr Scott said: “I am delighted that the planning committee has refused ASDA’s application for a supermarket and demonstrated its commitment to protecting Thurso’s green belt. This was a wise and brave decision and Graeme Smith is to be commended for casting his vote in the right way.
“Unfortunately, ASDA says it will appeal the decision. If it does, it will be exploiting the unfair advantage granted to developers by planning law. Had the decision gone the other way, there is nothing the community could have done about it, since there is currently no third-party right of appeal. Levelling this playing field is something Greens are campaigning hard to achieve, by proposing a limited third-party right of appeal to be added to the planning bill that is currently going through Parliament.”
Hi Folks Bigpete again - here's another one! (Wish I had her money then I'd be able to afford the prices of 'local shops')
It's time for a halt to expansion of superstores
By Eleanor Scott MSP
Published: 23 June, 2006
ALONG with other MSPs, I get quite a large postbag on planning issues.
On the whole I tend to only oppose planning applications if there is a particularly strong case for doing so. Planning is after all a local council matter and in general I feel MSPs should respect the views of councillors, who are democratically elected to the job they do.
If contacted by someone worried about a particular planning issue I generally advise on how to proceed, put them in contact with other groups or individuals faced with a similar issue, or suggest possible avenues for objection. It's rare that I actually put in an objection myself.
Except for supermarkets.
There is currently a rash of supermarket planning applications making their way through the process. In Caithness, people are faced with having a Tesco in Wick and an Asda in Thurso facing each other like two gladiators, possibly with no other shops surviving in the county.
Inverness as we all know is already Tesco-dominated and there is also a proposal for a large Asda - this in a city whose centre shows only too well the effects of overprovision of supermarkets on an area. Tain is the next target for Asda.
I know all the arguments that will be put in favour of this because I remember them from when Safeway, as it then was, wanted to come to Alness.
At the time it was suggested that a Safeway in Easter Ross would halt the tendency for people to go to Inverness to shop, and that the High Street in Alness might actually benefit.
At the time I believed all that. I really thought there would be a culture change and people would start shopping locally. Of course, it didn't happen.
People still went to Inverness - because whatever Easter Ross, or Caithness for that matter, has to offer, Inverness is always bigger.
While I was opposing the Wick application my researcher had a look at local businesses estimated that 30 would be vulnerable to closure if a new superstore were to open. I haven't had the heart to repeat the exercise for Tain but it'll be the same - we're not talking just about groceries but about clothes, electrical goods, petrol, newspapers.
The New Economics Foundation has calculated that if half the residents of a town do one-third of their shopping in the new supermarket on the outskirts instead of using local shops the retail revenue in the town will go down by 16.7 per cent - easily enough to tip a small business into financial ruin and closure.
A Parliament report out earlier this month supported calls for a tighter rein on supermarket power, and the UK's Competition Commission is now investigating supermarkets' unfair trading practices.
However, there remains some concern because the Executive appears to have not submitted a response to the Commission's consultation - leaving the interests of Scottish producers and consumers unrepresented.
Everyone loves finding a bargain when shopping, but surely Scottish food and agriculture is about much more than just driving food prices lower and lower?
Shoppers will get good quality produce and choice only when we nurture and protect our wonderful home-grown produce and our independent stores.
I don't suppose the people of Dingwall, even those who welcomed the 24-hour Tesco, wanted the Somerfield on the High St to close; I don't suppose those in Conon wanted to lose their petrol station. People want supermarkets but they want choice too.
The trouble is that we're losing the choice. Supermarkets already have 80 per cent of the grocery market, and clearly they're not satisfied. We need to say "enough".
Niall Fernie
08-Aug-06, 15:42
I think you've all scared her off :)
http://forum.caithness.org/member.php?u=3851
(genuine email addy used to register but could still be hoax account, unless she still can't navigate our highly complex forum system)
mickey101
08-Aug-06, 16:57
Hi
Okay to simply answer our crusading non computer literate MSP's misplaced opinion, "which is by letting ASDA or TESCO in up here we will lose the choice we already have". Err I must have missed something " What choice?". The fact Dr Scott fails to recognise is that we want the shops so we can finally get some choice. Has it entered her tiny little one track mind to ask a simple question- "Why do a large proportion of northern people troop down to Inverness to do their shopping" answer :- To get the choice and the value for money we DONT get up here.
If the shops in Caithness treated us like people instead of a captive audience to milk senseless then we would be content. We by and large are not asking them to compete with Inverness prices but when you walk into a well know Supermarket and find the shelves half empty why should you put up with it. why should you NOT vote with your feet?
And here is a heads up for Dr Scott et al if ASDA is refused planning permission ( which I think is highly likely), then Thurso's shops are doomed. Why? Because people from Thurso will drive across to Wick and do all their shopping there. People from the west instead of stopping in Thurso will drive straight through and do all their shopping in Wick. People between Thurso and Wick will instead of going to the nearest town drive to Wick and do all their shopping.
End Result NO SHOPS IN THURSO. Why do you think the Thurso Traders Association are welcoming the devleopment. Is it possibly because they are capable of seeing the wood from the trees
So wake up Dr Scott and by the way you local shops must have some selection and not all of us get a nice fat salary from the over priced talking shop in Edinburgh to afford their prices. Some of us have to mind the pennies not just the pounds.
And there is a big difference between Caithness and Alness. About 90 miles
Originally Posted by ywindy
Originally Posted by crayola
'snot true (http://www.npower-renewables.com/faq/windfarms.asp)
Does it take more energy to make a wind turbine than it generates?
The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within 3 - 5 months of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental costs.
Crayola and Rheghead, what are these estimates based on?
ywindy
Crayola, what do you consider to be "low financial and environmental costs"? How is this calculated?
Crikey, how should I know? I was only quoting what the evil npower said on the page I linked to. :lol:
Fine crayola, but you quoted it as if it was a fact, and crikey, you don't actually know.
ywindy
Blazing Sporrans
08-Aug-06, 22:52
Is it just me or does no-one else ask why these global 'monsters' are the overwhelming succes that they are? The simple solution of giving the customer what they want appears to me to be the answer, however I may be underthinking things. What Dr Scott overlooks when she wants to sustain our town and village shops is that I have just seen an advert on TV for George clothing at Asda which retails polo shirts at 95 pence and school trousers and skirts at £3 each. What on earth does she expect the common punter to do when faced with a selection such as this, at a price that makes uniform hugely affordable, instead of having your child stigmatised by his/her peers for not wearing the lastest Nike/adidas/Bench/french connection (he he - the Org doesn't allow the abbreviated name for french connection) etc etc product?
And yes folks, I have seen the arguments about Walmart's apparently monstrous qualities as an employer, yet still they have employees in their tens of thousands across the UK. I'm sure they're not all unhappy in their work.
Like the apparent majority who welcome these multi-nationals (according to the Org pages anyway), I as a parent am looking forward to their presence in the county and as a consumer, benefitting from their competition to win customers. The more I can provide for my children on my budget, the happier I shall be! When I first came to Caithness, I remember going into a Thurso shop and looking for a certain item, which the retailer in question did not have in stock. When I asked if they could order it for me, I was looked at as if I had two heads. I wondered whether I had broken some local law or custom, however I soon realised that this appeared the norm for Thurso. Yes things have improved over the long years since then, however I am tired of being held to ransom by local shopkeepers, I am tired of being held to ransom by petrol retailers (who make next to nothing out of petrol, so their profit margins on sweets, milk and pre-packed sandwiches must be immense) and I am tired of being dictated to by people like Eleanor Scott, whose use of the title 'Dr' is probably only to heighten a sense of low self-esteem (does it matter that other people have to know that she has some form of doctorate - I prefer to read If (http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm) by Rudyard Kipling for my daily dose of humility and acknowledgement of my own self worth).
Anyway, I've been away from here for a couple of weeks, so that's enough ranting for tonight.... my blood pressure is now low enough to go to bed and sleep!!
Oidhche mhath
Fine crayola, but you quoted it as if it was a fact, and crikey, you don't actually know.
ywindyThanks for taking me seriously. Not everyone does xXx
You'll know better in future. :lol:
It's time for a halt to expansion of superstores
By Eleanor Scott MSP
At the time it was suggested that a Safeway in Easter Ross would halt the tendency for people to go to Inverness to shop, and that the High Street in Alness might actually benefit.
At the time I believed all that. I really thought there would be a culture change and people would start shopping locally. Of course, it didn't happen.
People still went to Inverness - because whatever Easter Ross, or Caithness for that matter, has to offer, Inverness is always bigger.This logic cracks me up. Yes, Inverness' shopping is bigger than Alness' and it's bigger than Caithness'. Alness is 20 miles from Inverness. Caithness is 5 or 6 times more distant than Alness. That's over 100 miles Dr Eleanor Scott MSP. Hardly comparable then eh?
I think you've all scared her off :)
http://forum.caithness.org/member.php?u=3851
(genuine email addy used to register but could still be hoax account, unless she still can't navigate our highly complex forum system)Dr Eleanor Scott MSP navigate? I think we've already seen that she has little or no concept of the relevance of distance to simple arguments, so she's probably still in Vehilces for Sale.
I don't suppose the people of Dingwall, even those who welcomed the 24-hour Tesco, wanted the Somerfield on the High St to close I rejoiced when the Somerfield on my High Street closed down. The only good Somerfiield is a closed Somerfield.
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