July 12, 2013
Scotland

Dalmellington anti-wind farm campaigners want to close door on wind farm

Cumnock Chronicle | 12 Jul 2013 | www.cumnockchronicle.com

Dalmellington Community Council have urged locals to rally round and hammer a final nail in the coffin of a controversial wind farm.

Back in January, council chiefs received rapturous applause when they rejected the proposal by Infinis to build eight massive wind turbines close to the Chalmerston opencast site.

They took the decision – at a specially-arranged planning meeting in Dalmellington – after receiving a staggering 1,183 letters of objections from concerned residents.

But now the energy giant have appealed and Scottish Government planners will assess the application on Wednesday, July 24.

The meeting will be held in the Community Centre at 10am and it’s hoped a large turnout of objectors will help sway the final decision.

Sharon Rowan, secretary of the Community Council, said: “The Community Council would strongly encourage people to attend this very important meeting. You don’t have to speak. We just need to take a silent but united stand.”

Infinis, represented by Burnhead Wind Farm Ltd, had been hoping to build the 100m high turbines at the site which is just 2.4km north of the town.

But the proposals were thrown out after councillors were impressed by locals’ visions of Dalmellington’s future driven by tourism and the new Dark Sky Observatory on Craigengillan Estate.

Before the original meeting, the applicants asked to have the planning meeting – on January 18 – delayed as they’d not had time to consider rejections relating to the effect that infra-red avaiation lighting used on the turbines had.

Mark Gibson, owner of the Craigengillan Estate, argued the wind farm would set back the recovery of Dalmellington.

He said: “We have achieved so much as a community and all that progress is completely dependant on the landscape and a wind farm in completely incompatible with this future.

“We were delighted and relieved the planning committee came to their original decision. We hope for a similar result again.”

Simon Hayes, Head of Wind Farm Energy Development at Infinis, admitted that the wind farm would only be the equivalent to one-and-a-half full-time jobs over the 25-year planned lifespan.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/07/12/dalmellington-anti-wind-farm-campaigners-want-to-close-door-on-wind-farm/