May 4, 2016
Scotland

Massive Highland windfarm appeal goes to Court of Session

Strathspey & Badenoch Herald | 03/05/2016 | www.strathspey-herald.co.uk

Judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh will this week hear an appeal from the Scottish Ministers and SSE against a judicial review which overturned the decision to give the go-ahead to a giant Highland wind farm.

The 67-turbine Stronelairg proposal is set in the heart of the Monadhliath Mountains.

It was approved by the Scottish Ministers in June 2014 but in December 2015 the decision was overturned in the Outer House of the Court of Session by the late Lord Jones, in a judicial review by the John Muir Trust.

The project is now before the Inner House of the Court of Session after the Scottish Ministers and SSE lodged an appeal.

The hearing is expected to last three days from Wednesday 4 to Friday May 6.

Stuart Brooks, chief executive of the John Muir Trust said: “We are disappointed that this application has come back to court, and we don’t believe it’s a sensible use of public money. We would have preferred that the developer SSE had been asked to resubmit the application and then follow due process.”

The decision by Scottish Ministers to allow the project to go ahead was taken despite the Scottish Government’s own advisors Scottish Natural Heritage advising that a wind farm should not be built at Stronelairg because of its wild land qualities.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/05/04/massive-highland-windfarm-appeal-goes-to-court-of-session/