December 28, 2012
Scotland

Controversial wind turbine plan approved

Banffshire Journal | 27 December 2012 | www.banffshire-journal.co.uk

Councillors backed contentious plans to construct an 80m wind turbine at Alvah during last week’s Banff and Buchan area committee meeting.

They voted 6-4 in favour of approving the application, submitted by E-Gen Ltd, at Cowie Hill, following a site visit.

This was despite a recommendation from Aberdeenshire Council planners to refuse it and 23 letters of objection received by the local authority.

Planners made their recommendation on the basis that the turbine would have a detrimental impact upon the established character of the area and would add to the cumulative impact when viewed along with other consented and pending applications for wind turbines in the immediate and wider area.

In a report, a planning spokesman said: “Due to the height, scale and location of the proposed turbine it will be readily visible to a number of nearby households.

“From some viewpoints it will be viewed in combination with other large-scale turbines already constructed in the vicinity. As such it could impinge upon the character of the wider landform in the area, as well as further afield.

“Cumulative impact is a fundamental issue in this case and the planning service has recommended a number of similar applications for refusal on the basis that the Alvah area to the south-west of Banff and west of the Deveron Valley is now becoming saturated with turbines to the extent that, once all erected, they will be the dominant feature of this particular landscape.”

Within 5km of the site, 23 wind turbines of various heights have been given consent, with the highest measuring nearly 100m and the lowest about 20m.
For more on this story see this week’s Banffshire Journal, on sale now.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/12/28/controversial-wind-turbine-plan-approved/