September 15, 2011
Scotland

Developer abandons Culzean windfarm plan

Carrick Gazette, www.carricktoday.co.uk 15 September 2011

A developer has abandoned plans to build 15 wind turbines on the hill overlooking Culzean Castle in Ayrshire.

Durham-based developer Banks Renewables pulled the application a week before it was due to be decided on by the South Ayrshire Council’s Regulatory Committee.

Council planning officials had recommended that the application was refused as it contravened national, regional and local planning policies and would have an adverse effect on the landscape as well as on tourism and air safety. Organisations including the National Trust for Scotland, VisitScotland, Historic Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage had objected to the erection of the 81-metre-high structures on Knoweside Hill near Croy on the grounds that they would dominate the landscape around the world-famous attraction.

South Ayrshire Council received more than 60 written objections to the proposal, including one from Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of General Dwight Eisenhower, who was granted use of a top-floor apartment at the castle at the end of the Second World War.

A number of high-profile local figures, such as the outspoken windfarm critic MEP Struan Stevenson and the late MSP Phil Gallie, had also slammed the application.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/15/developer-abandons-culzean-windfarm-plan/