Driving up the A80 to work on a clear day recently, I could easily see the wind farm development on the Heights at Doune about 10 miles or so beyond.

The turbines appeared to be a fairly modest number and, from that distance, not a huge blot on the horizon. But their existence made me think about the need for renewable energy of which wind farms are one form.

Scotland is the windiest country in Europe with average wind speeds of more than 7.5 metres per second at 50m (source: Scottish Power). So in the renewables debate, wind farms in Scotland are drawn into sharp focus.

However, with the need to meet Kyoto targets and Climate Change Levy ringing out loudly it is surprising to learn that there is no formal overall body with responsibility for positioning and planning permission.

While most (if not all) would agree with the need for renewable energy, the location of wind farms is surely of fundamental importance.

Tourism is one of Scotland’s largest industries. It employs 197,000 people and it injects £4.5bn annually into the Scottish economy. And we know that one of the main motivations to travel to Scotland is the outstanding beauty of the natural heritage. We need therefore to be very careful about the where these wind farms are located and how many turbines are acceptable.

Those against them point to the fact that poorly located wind farms impact on the landscape and the ecology it supports and that the turbines are noisy and can be responsible for the deaths of many birds who fly into them, further damaging the balance of nature in the area.

Those for, agree that they do alter the landscape but not as much as climate change which is already starting to cause coastal erosion, among other things.

So we have a dilemma – but not one that is insurmountable.

We need a balanced approach, but before that can happen we need to have better facts that can help inform a wider debate.

Knee jerk reactions motivated only by self interest will not be good enough in an issue which could be one of the most important we have to face in the years ahead.

Please let me have your opinions or suggestions as to how we might move this debate forward to the benefit of all.

At the forthcoming industry conference at the beginning of next month, one of the plenary speakers, John Mayhew, will make a presentation on Climate Change Effects on Tourism – so it will be a great opportunity to find out more on this.

Eva McDiarmid