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“Its footpaths are “tortuous”, the roof likely to “channel wind and rain” and its myriad columns – meant to evoke a forest – are incongruous with the vast landscape surrounding it.”
“So says the government’s design watchdog over plans for a controversial £20m visitor centre at Stonehenge, the megalithic jewel in England’s cultural crown. CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, has criticised the design of the proposed centre, claiming the futuristic building by Denton Corker Marshall does little to enhance the 5,000-year-old standing stones which attract more than 800,000 visitors each year.”
More here – http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/feb/07/stonehenge-city-garden-visitor-centre
By Moss, Heritage Action
Wind farms are controversial at the best of times, but the Isle of Lewis with its famous prehistoric stones, wild life and rare peat habitat, is to undergo a massive building of turbines in the future, see our recent article, It seems that the developer has also offered the villagers a chance to build their own wind farm. It comes at a cost of 18.5 million pounds, the land is free but the villagers have to find the money to build the turbines. A loan is being offered, for building the turbines, and the villagers will eventually reap some reward when the turbines are working. See here.
The John Muir charity organisation has campaigned strongly against the building of these turbines, their case rests on the use of ‘wild land’ for industrial purposes, the decline of the rare white tailed eagle, also the cumulative effect of death (by flying into the turbines) of the golden eagle and the viewpoints from three key summits in the area; Beinn Mhor, An Cliseam and Calanais, to quote “ the 33 turbines, each at 145 metres high – taller than the London Eye, will have huge visual impacts” on the stunning wildness of this Scottish island landscape.
Climate change, again in the headlines as a subject of debate, will bring changes in our landscape in the foreseeable future, water and wind the natural solutions to our carbon burning society. The John Muir campaign has strong arguments in its favour, and the question of protecting our landscapes against protecting the world and its people gives no easy answers, except perhaps that profit making must always be carefully monitored and motivations questioned at all times.