January 3, 2014
Scotland

Turbines appeal bid fury

By Stuart Gillespie | Daily Record | 3 Jan 2014 | www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Anti-windfarm campaigners are furious after a bid to get a planning refusal overturned was lodged just days before Christmas.

Developers 2020 Renewables have asked the Scottish Government to approve a £38million, 11-turbine development at Loch Hill, near Dalry, after they were rejected by councillors last year.

Their appeal was made on December 20, with a spokesman for the firm saying they had until Boxing Day to lodge the paperwork.

But the move has been blasted by Alison Chapman, co-ordinator of Galloway Landscape and Renewable Energy. She said: “The Glenkens, the Stewartry and all of Dumfries and Galloway is under attack again.

“Rather than accept the democratic decision of locally elected councillors in September, 2020 Renewables have spent three months preparing an 89-page dossier to appeal the Loch Hill windfarm just outside Dalry and submitted it just before Christmas when most people are looking forward to a break. The council gets just three weeks to prepare its case and the necessary paperwork.”

In September, the planning applications committee rejected the proposals – even though they had been recommended for approval.

Managing director of 2020 Renewables Alan Baker said: “We worked hard to ensure the application met with the approval of planning officers and statutory consultees.

“With a recommendation to approve and no objections from statutory consultees such as SNH and SEPA, there is a strong case for Loch Hill and we look forward to an early appeal decision.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/01/03/turbines-appeal-bid-fury/