By Jamie Ross
A wind turbine developer has lodged an appeal with the Scottish Government
in a bid to have a local council decision overturned.
North-east councillors refused Inverurie firm Green Cat Renewables
permission for a 262ft turbine on land at Nether Hythie Farm, Mintlaw, in
February.
The elected representatives of Peterhead and central Buchan rejected the
proposals at a meeting of the Buchan area committee.
They argued that the turbine would be unacceptable in the area because of
the cumulative impact which other structures have already made on the
landscape.
Aberdeenshire Council’s planning service had earmarked the proposal for
approval.
In his report to councillors, Stephen Archer, the authority’s director of
infrastructure services, said: “The proposal will have an impact on the
character of the local area, both individually and cumulatively, and an
impact from some viewpoints.
“However, this impact is, on balance, considered acceptable.”
Green Cat has now taken its case to the Scottish Government in the hope of
having the area committee’s original decision overruled.
In its submission to the Planning and Environmental Appeals division of the
Scottish Government, Green Cat cited Mr Archer’s finding that the impact of
the turbine would be “acceptable”.
It added: “It is the view of the appellant and the planning service that
there is ‘medium’ capacity for large turbines in this area.
“The proposal is considered to be well scaled to the particular landforms
and landscape characteristics. This led to the planning service
recommending the application for approval.
“The appellant therefore contends that there are no valid reasons for
refusing this application and respectfully requests Scottish Ministers to
approve the application, subject to the usual range of conditions for an
application of this scale and nature.”
Green Cat also claimed that the single wind turbine would make a “useful
contribution” to the Scottish Government’s target for 500MW of locally and
community owned renewables.
0 Comments