February 2, 2012
Scotland
Scotland
Threat to birds sees Kintyre turbines plan rejected
By Jane Candlish, The Press and Journal, 2 February 2012
By Jane Candlish, The Press and Journal, 2 February 2012
Plans for a windfarm on the Mull of Kintyre have been thrown out by the Scottish Government because the development might harm local populations of hen harriers.
The Kilchattan windfarm would also have a “considerable” visual impact on the landscape, reporter Jill Moody said.
The proposals were for 16 turbines – each reaching a height of 265ft – north of the village of Southend.
The windfarm was being developed as a joint venture between Wind Prospect Developments and Ridgewind.
They submitted a planning application to Argyll and Bute Council in January 2008. The council refused the plans and an inquiry was held in 2010.
In her determination, published yesterday, Ms Moody said that there would be significant loss of visual and residential amenity for the village of Southend. She added: “I am satisfied that in this case, the balance in favour does not outweigh the potential for this extremely sensitive location to suffer unacceptably severe negative effects if the proposed windfarm were to proceed.”
A spokeswoman for the windfarm company said: “Our Edinburgh team has worked hard for a number of years on the Kilchattan windfarm proposal, so we are understandably disappointed at the outcome of the appeal. As responsible developers we pride ourselves on very careful site selection and will only proceed to develop those sites which we believe to be acceptable in relation to current planning policy.
“Throughout the planning process we, along with our expert consultants, considered the site to be suitable for this scale of development. However, unfortunately we have been unsuccessful in obtaining planning consent for this particular proposal and whilst we will consider the points made by the Scottish Government Reporter, we are unlikely to pursue further interest in the site.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/02/threat-to-birds-sees-kintyre-turbines-plan-rejected/