Scottish National Party (SNP) ministers have admitted to felling close to 16 million trees to make room for wind farms on public land after the Scottish government plans to get all of its power from renewable energy this year.
Mairi Gougeon, the Rural Affairs Secretary, conceded that around 15.7 million trees have been cleared since 2000 from areas presently managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). The figures equate to over 1,700 trees felled daily, in what critics have described as a hypocritical eco-crusade.
Despite this, Gougeon insisted on a planning presumption in favour of protecting woodland, expecting wind farm developers to undertake “compensatory planting elsewhere.”
However, Scottish Tory MSP Liam Kerr expressed astonishment at the figures, citing worries voiced by “communities all over the country.”