By Jamie Buchan
Anti-windfarm campaigners are preparing to fight plans for a major turbine
development in western Perthshire.
Wind energy specialist Green Cat Renewables has tabled a bid to build nine
towers – each taller than the Wallace monument – on land between Comrie and
Braco.
A proposal for four turbines at the same site was rejected by councillors
eight years ago, amid fears it could have a harmful impact on the landscape.
In its application, the developer says the visual impact of the new
Strathallan Windfarm plan will be “broadly similar to the previously
proposed four-turbine scheme”.
A spokesman added: “However, the new proposal more than doubles the
potential electrical generation capacity.
“It is felt that this strikes a better planning balance between the
benefits and impacts of the scheme.”
Opponents are mobilising to block the development. Residents have launched
the Say No to Strathallan Windfarm action group to drum up support for
their fight.
George Watterson, who chairs the Greenscares Environmental Action Group,
which is leading the campaign, urged opponents to lodge their objections
with Perth and Kinross Council planners.
“There is a great deal of anxiety in the local and surrounding area about
this application,” he said.
“It has been dragging on for so long, I’m sure people have forgotten all
about it and probably think it is not going to happen.”
The group’s website states that the Strathallan plan could hit the area’s
crucial tourism industry.
“Tourism is an extremely important part of the Perthshire economy and
tourists come to see its natural beauty and tranquillity, and not a
landscape that is becoming more and more industrial-like,” a spokesman for
the group said. “If this natural beauty continues to be compromised then
tourists will go elsewhere.”
There are also concerns that the 305ft turbines could affect local
wildlife, including red kites, osprey, hen harriers, deer and red squirrels.
In its design statement, Green Cat Renewables said the scheme has been
designed in line with best practice guidelines. “As a nine-turbine scheme,
as opposed to a four-turbine scheme, it is definitively a windfarm as
opposed to a wind cluster, which is keeping with the pattern of development
within this part of Perthshire.”
All public feedback must be lodged with the council by November 19 and the
application is due to be considered by councillors in the coming months.
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