March 5, 2014
Scotland

Campaigners aim to mobilise thousands in fight against windfarms in Perthshire

By Mark Mackay, 5 March 2014 | The Courier | www.thecourier.co.uk

One fifth of all homes in Perth and Kinross are being targeted this week as part of an unprecedented effort to oppose windfarm development.

Communities will be bombarded with leaflets by campaign groups desperate to demonstrate the depth of ill-feeling towards the industrialisation of the region’s landscape.

Almost 150 major turbines of more than 50 metres have now been erected or approved across the length and breadth of the area.

Their impact upon communities is increased by the number of turbines visible within bordering regions, and by the development of the Beauly to Denny line and its new pylons.

Proposals for hundreds more turbines are currently going through the planning process or will soon be submitted to council planning departments.

That “assault” has stimulated the formation of a number of new campaign groups and two, in particular, are stepping up their opposition this week.

The Greenscares Environmental Action Group (GEAG) will target 9,000 residents to warn them about a planned wind farm at Greenscares Plantation, just west of Braco.

The Green Cat renewables plan would see 10 86.5m turbines erected just a few miles from Gleneagles, Greenloaning, Blackford, Muthill, Crieff, Comrie and Auchterarder.

A further 4,000 homes in and around Balbeggie will be targeted by the Stop Bandirran Wind Farm group, which hopes to block plans for six of the country’s tallest turbines.

GEAG member and local resident George Watterson said: “Many people don’t realise Perthshire continues to be flooded with speculative applications for industrial wind turbines and windfarms.

“Within 20 miles of Gleneagles Hotel, there are already 150 turbines in operation, 15 windfarms under construction, a further 15 under application and 22 at screening or scoping. The Greenscares turbines alone will have a far-reaching visual impact for many miles around, dwarfing every other natural and man-made feature.”

Previous plans for the location have been rejected.

However, seasoned campaigner Bill Thomson believes developers may have sensed an opportunity.

He said: “Green Cat are trying their luck because they think the Beauly-Denny line has so degraded our landscape that industrial turbines will make little difference. The Beauly-Denny line is not a licence to destroy great swathes of beautiful 
countryside.”

The six turbines planned for Bandirran, meanwhile, would be the tallest yet constructed in Perth and Kinross.

Green Cat Renewables submitted a scoping application for Greenscares in May 2012 and is expected to submit a full planning application for the windfarm later this spring.

Anyone who wants further information about that development, or details of how to object to it, is asked to contact the campaign group by emailing greenscares.actiongroup@yahoo.co.uk.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/03/05/campaigners-aim-to-mobilise-thousands-in-fight-against-windfarms-in-perthshire/