The energy company's visual of how the Allt Duine windfarm might look
Opponents of a proposed windfarm in the Highlands welcomed a local council’s rejection of the plans.
Members of the Highland Council’s south planning application committee went against their officer’s recommendation to approve the Allt Duine development, in the Monadhliath Mountains.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland, the John Muir Trust and outdoors elder statesmen Chris Townsend and Cameron McNeish all voiced their opposition to the German company RWE npower renewables’ plans for 31 turbines just outside the Cairngorms national park.
A spokesperson for Highland Council said: “This morning members of the committee were taken on a site visit before reconvening in Inverness to debate the application.
“Following the debate, vice-chairman and local councillor Dave Fallows moved an amendment that the council should object to the application on the grounds of the proximity to the Cairngorms national park, the significant detriment to the landscape of the Monadhliath mountain range and the emerging draft Highland renewable energy strategy.
“Councillor Thomas Prag moved an amendment to support the officer recommendation to approve the application. This was defeated three votes to nine.”
Opponents had pointed out the development was not in line with the draft strategy.
There will now be a public inquiry into the plans.
The John Muir Trust, which campaigns for the conservation of wild land, welcomed the council’s decision. Steven Turnbull, policy officer for the trust, said: “This is a sensible decision by the council which demonstrates an appetite for protecting wild land within the region.
“We’re pleased that the application will now have to face a full public local inquiry, which is vital to fully determine its impacts.
“If approved this 31 turbine development would have a devastating effect on the Monadhliath Mountains, an important area of wild land.”
Journalist and writer Chris Townsend, a key figure in the Save the Monadhliath Mountains group and a former president of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, said: “After months of tireless campaigning and securing large scale public support, we’re pleased that the Highland Council area planning committee has objected to the Allt Duine wind farm proposal.
“A huge amount of Scottish natural heritage is at stake and it is crucial that the proposal is assessed thoroughly. The only way to guarantee a meticulous assessment is for the application to be heard at a full public inquiry undertaken by the Scottish Government.
“Despite today’s formal objection, this is only the beginning of a long process and we will carry on working with our membership to protect this area of unspoilt natural beauty.”
A statement from the MCofS said: “The MCofS believes that local democracy has made its views clear and trusts Scottish ministers will listen to the views of the elected representatives and follow their lead by rejecting the application.”
The planned development, dubbed ‘a windfarm too far’ by Chris Townsend, is seen as a crucial battleground between the competing demands of the Scottish Government’s renewable energy policy and the conservation of some of the nation’s finest landscapes.
Peter Evans
17 January 2012This is an important marker and although just a battle won and not the war, sends a clear message to the developer. We simply do not want wind farms in the mountains, and especially not on the fringe of a protected area.
james corrigan
18 January 2012SNP use Scottish wild land in their party political broadcasts.At the the same time they cart blach approve heavily subsidised 30% efficient wind factories on the same land they claim to tressure.They can never ever be trusted to run Scotland based on their own hypocrassy.
Colin Wells
18 January 2012An unexpected and extremely welcome decision.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most intrusive schemes ever planned for an iconic British mountain range.
Were it to go ahead it would send a clear message that Scottish national parks are regarded as even less worthy of protection than English & Welsh ones (given the precedent of the recent rejection of the much smaller 9 turbine development north of the Lake District NP boundary at Berrier Hill).
This will be an absolutely crucial test-case on this point. If the objectors fail here, it will signal to the big multinational energy companies that no Highland landscape, no matter how cherished or world class, could not be regarded as 'fair game'.
G Burgess
18 January 2012Please correct me if I've got this wrong. Your saying you don't want wind turbines in the mountains, or in the national parks, or on the boundary of the national parks, or even within sight of the national parks. Every one would also object if they were built in populated areas as many people would be able to see them. Or sparsely populated areas for that matter because that is where people go to get away from the populated areas.
You say you don't want them built at sea because offshore wind farms cost over twice as much as onshore wind and everyone complains about energy bills going up.
HOWEVER most people, possibly including yourselves, will claim they support renewable energy? Just as long as it is done in a place which doesn't effect them, at no cost to them either in terms of money or a change in lifestyle regarding energy use. In other words you need to write to your MPs and demand the government switches its policy back to invading foreign countries to ensure we have a stable and secure supply of energy, regardless of the environmental and humanitarian consequences. Ie put your money where your mouths are and face up to the full consequences of your short sighted arguments.
Onshore wind is by far the cheapest form of renewable energy, all other options are hugely more expensive and only solar is starting to close the gap but will probably be decades before it competes fully with onshore wind. Even then where is the power going to come from to heat our houses in the dark of winter? The best solution would be to reduce our energy use, however we all know pigs will fly long before human beings voluntarily agree to reduce their energy consumption and quality of life.
R Webb
18 January 2012Shut up about "National Parks". In Scotland most of the good stuff is outwith the parks. Carry on and that is all that will be left.
Still this is an obscene proposal, probably one of the worst yet.
And where is the power going to come from in the depths of Winter when it is -15 in an anticyclone, or it's very windy. Bird blenders don't like wind. Still turn them off and count the subsidy. Nothing must get in the way of the pleb --> fat cat flow.
Mike Merchant
19 January 2012I agree with Webb about the best stuff being outside national parks. It's an easy call to object to something because it spoils the view from inside a park, but I would much sooner hear arguments that bring out the qualities of, in this case, the Monadhliath hills themselves. Any anyway, I'd just as soon have distant turbines as a private new town in the heart of Strathspey, which has gone through!