March 29, 2016
Scotland

£45 million Saddle Hill windfarm plan thrown out

By Graham Brown | The Courier | 29 March 2016 | www.thecourier.co.uk

Angus planning councillors have unanimously thrown out an “industrial-scale” windfarm opponents claimed would have decimated the tourism market of Glen Isla.

Developers Wind Prospect said the £45 million Saddle Hill scheme would have provided enough power for a fifth of the homes in Angus and delivered a £4 million community bounty over the next 25 years.

But the area’s development standards committee meeting in Forfar backed the refusal recommendation of officials after hearing the 115-metre high turbines would be visible from Perth, the Sidlaws and the Angus Munros.

Kirriemuir Landward West community council chairman Roger Clegg said the area’s “small and scattered” communities were having to “bear the brunt of an industrialisation of the hilltops.”

Development standards convener Councillor Rob Murray said: “The development is too big, there are too many turbines, they are too high and it’s in the wrong place.”

See Wednesday’s Courier for a full report of the development standards committee meeting.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/03/29/45-million-saddle-hill-windfarm-plan-thrown-out/