Highland Council urges objection raised to 17 turbine wind farm north of Grantown
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Highland Council says plans for a new wind farm about 10 miles north of Grantown show 'insufficient regard to preserving natural beauty of the countryside' and has called on members to raise an objection.
Planning officials cited as well the impact the Lethen turbines could have on the surrounding area, which is nearing saturation point with 396 turbines already built or in construction.
Fred Olsen Renewables wants to erect 17 wind turbines with a maximum blade tip height 185 metres for 35 years alongside 14.5km of access tracks, a substation, energy storage facility, control building, meteorological mast and ancillary infrastructure
Ultimately the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU) will get the final say on whether the proposals will go ahead but first the council must be formally consulted.
At next week’s south planning applications committee, councillors will be given the chance to have their say and strong opposition or support for the plans could put pressure on the ECU to refuse.
Council planning officers gave three main reasons to raise an objection and believe the plan 'does not reasonably mitigate the effect' of the development – which can be summed up as wind farms saturating the landscape.
They underlined the argument by noting there are currently 241 turbines within 37km of the area and a further 156 turbines have planning permission – a total of 396 turbines with a further 57 going through the planning process.
Planning officer Peter Wheelan supported by the area planning manager south David Mudie assessed the proposals as contrary to the Highland wide Local Development Plan.
He said: “The development would have a significantly detrimental landscape impact on the integrity of the Drynachan, Lochindorb and Dava Moors Special Landscape Area, as well as on the underlying open rolling uplands landscape character type; and due to having significant adverse impact on special qualities of the Cairngorm National Park.
“The application fails to preserve amenity under Schedule 9 of the Electricity Act, as it has insufficient regard to preserving natural beauty of the countryside and does not reasonably mitigate the effect of the proposals.
“This is by virtue of the location, siting and design with the proposed development, with it dominating views within and across this moorland area, its cumulative impact, and visible aviation lighting requirements.
“The development would have significantly detrimental visual impacts, which are not localised and / or appropriately mitigated by design, as experienced by road users, including tourists, residents, and recreational users of the outdoors particularly from representative viewpoints.”
And concluding the recommendation to raise an objection, Mr Wheelan added: “The development would have significant adverse impacts on the integrity and setting of Lochindorb scheduled monument.
“The application fails to preserve amenity under Schedule 9 of the Electricity Act, as it has insufficient regard to preserving the historic built environment and does not reasonably mitigate the effect of the proposals. This is due to the design, scale and location of the proposed development, its cumulative impact, and visible aviation lighting requirements.”
