The Stronelairg windfarm will cover an area the size of Inverness. Photo: Karl and Ali CC-BY-SA-2.0
Scotland’s biggest conservation charity has thrown its weight behind the campaign against the building of a huge windfarm in the Highlands.
The National Trust for Scotland is contacting all its 320,000 members urging them to support the John Muir Trust’s opposition to the Stronelairg development.
It is also asking its members to pledge cash to the JMT’s legal fund. The charity faces being hit with a large bill for costs incurred by the Scottish Government and Scottish and Southern Energy if its challenge is unsuccessful. A judge refused to grant a protective expenses order which would have limited its costs.
The proposed Stronelairg windfarm in the Monadhliath Mountains will cover an area similar to the Highland’s biggest city and has been opposed by the Scottish Government’s advisory body on the outdoors, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, as well as the JMT.
A hearing will take place early next year at the Court of Session to try to stop the development.
The National Trust for Scotland’s chief executive Kate Mavor said: “Although the proposed windfarm is not directly adjacent to any of our properties, it will be visible from large swathes of the Cairngorms national park and we are supporting this campaign on principle.
“We are not opposed to renewable energy developments by any means, so long as they are suitably located, are proportionate and subject to public scrutiny. We think there are serious questions to be answered about the way the Stronelairg windfarm was approved and what it might mean for Scotland’s wild lands.”
The NTS director of conservation services and projects Terry Levinthal added: “The 67 turbines, up to 135m tall, will cover an area the size of Inverness within the Monadhliath Mountains, bounding a special area of conservation.
“Ironically, their construction will require thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete to be placed on top of significant peatlands and their eco-systems. These act as a natural carbon ‘sink’, tying up greenhouse gasses that could otherwise accelerate climate change.
“We find it particularly disturbing that the Government’s own agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority both objected to the development yet their protests were ignored.
“It has also been suggested that SNH’s efforts to have Stronelairg added to the wild land areas map, which would have afforded a measure of protection from development, were stymied. Given the precedent this enormous windfarm may set, the implications for the conservation of wild land are deeply concerning.”
The NTS is contacting its membership by email and social media. It is suggesting that help could be given to the campaign by writing to ministers and MSPs and by making personal donations to the John Muir Trust’s legal fund.
Peter Owens
20 November 2014This really is the big one.
If this challenge fails, it makes the Scottish wild land map into a joke with nowhere safe from commercial exploitation.
Please support the JMT appeal via their web site.
GeorgH
20 November 2014REMINDER!
Some recent opinion polls
1 YouGov poll finds 75% back wild land protection and only 6% oppose. "Wild land should be given special protection from inappropriate development including wind farms."
91% of Scottish residents believe it important to retain wild places
2 Should Munros and Corbetts be protected from wind farm development?
90% YES 10% NO
3 Brown Muir Wind farm, just South of Elgin
2,102 Objections 10 Support
4 Should further large scale wind farms be sited in Highland Perthshire?
91% NO 9% Yes
5 Dershalloch Wind farm, East of Straiton
4,723 Objections 23 Support
6 Corlic Hill 703 Objections 1 Support
Intelligent Scots have seen through the wind industry propaganda. They want no more environmental devastation to line the pockets of rich landowners!
Susan
20 November 2014The UN wants these things.
Robert
20 November 2014The month of Oct produced 126% of required power for Scotland from renewables (wind making most of that). We have a choice renewables, nuclear, fracking or coal/gas. "it spoils the view"?????? Yeah well just remember most of these people drive a car up to these areas.
Margaret
21 November 2014Robert could you give a bit more detail and context about the statistic "produced 126%" in October?
GeorgeH
21 November 2014The Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle is at the point of extinction due to wind farms. Recent research from around the world indicates horrific bird mortality rates:-
Spain - 330 Birds per turbine per year
Germany - 309 Birds per turbine per year
Sweden - 895 Birds per turbine per year
When will the wind industry tell us the Scottish figures?
Ian
24 November 2014The remains of hurricane Gonzalo (by then an anticyclone) certainly helped power the wind factories during October.
But as the month was one of the warmest Octobers we have had, it is likely that less heating electricity was being used.
There were also some periods during the month that were calm, so there was no power being generated by turbines.
C Aitken
02 April 2015Will the wind farms fall under the public interest expressed by the SNP in their proposed Land reforms? I would be a bit wary about slinging one of these up on my hillside to make a profit when the State could run the Mugabe shuffle on you and seize without compensation?
When the turbines all rotate - we are in clover, if none of them rotate, the light go out if we don't have the capacity or ability to borrow energy from neighbours - I love our landscape and I am a huge fan of Hydro - tucked up the glens, much less pop-up unsightly and creates employment for years.