June 17, 2011
Scotland

Noisy wind farm forced to close

The Scotsman, scotsman.com 17 June 2011

A wind farm has been forced to close because it makes too much noise.
Scottish & Southern Energy was served with a month-long stop notice on its 23 turbines at the Highland hamlet of Achany, in Sutherland, following complaints from residents.

Highland Council imposed the ban, saying the company breached planning controls by failing to deal with excessive noise from the development.

The stop notice will remain until 4 July, with the shut-down representing a huge financial loss to the power company.

Highland Council’s principal planner Gordon Moonie confirmed yesterday that it was the first time the authority had issued a notice of this type.

He said he was unaware of any other council taking similar action.

“This temporary stop notice was introduced under a 2006 act and it hasn’t been used very often, but it is quite an effective way of dealing with a breach of planning control,” he said.

“In a sense it affects the company where it hurts – in their pocket.”

Mr Moonie said the problems had been ongoing for about a year.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/17/noisy-wind-farm-forced-to-close/