April 15, 2011
Scotland

Windfarm company gets the wrong river

by Stuart Gillespie, Galloway News, icdumfries.icnetwork.co.uk 14 April 2011by Stuart Gillespie, Galloway News, icdumfries.icnetwork.co.uk 14 April 2011

The Stewartry has been moved to the north of England, according to a windfarm developer.

And Community Windpower Ltd also claim that the region’s River Dee rises in the Cairngorms.

The statements are made in their planning application for a seven turbine windfarm at Mayfield, near Rhonehouse.

They recently applied to the council for planning permission for the £24 million development and have previously claimed that their plans to give £50,000 a year for the life of the windfarm would help communities such as Tongland and Kelton.

But in their non-technical summary, they say the proposal “would be a significant boost to the local area and the Lancaster district”.

Galloway Fisheries Trust, one of the consultees for the application, has also raised serious doubts about the accuracy of the documentation.

Fisheries biologist Jackie Graham says in her report that in the environmental summary “several statements are factually incorrect – ridiculously so”.

The environmental statement says: “The River Dee is one of the four principal rivers in Scotland, rising in the Cairngorm Mountains and continues to follow a fairly narrow, meandering path in a southerly direction towards the Solway.”

The biologist says in her submission she is “very surprised” to see a particular website about he River Dee used as reference for the fisheries topic.

She adds: “This may go some way to explain the major flaws in the fisheries part of the chapter as this website covers the Aberdeenshire Dee exclusively!

“I also note that GFT are also listed here as a source of information although we have had very little contact from the developer at all.”

She feels fish and their habitats have not been “adequately or accurately covered” and believes permission should not be granted unless the firm can prove they are taking the issue seriously.

Galloway Fisheries Trust is not the only body to have concerns with the application.

A response from Historic Scotland reveals they feel they have “inadequate information” to form an opinion on the proposals.

And the National Trust for Scotland, who own Threave Estate feel the development would be inappropriate and say there has been “no consultation” on whether a road needed to access the development would need widened.

The News contacted Community Windpower about the errors but they were unavailable for comment.