I FIND the hostility in your Letters Pages to the Holy Island wind turbines
rather surprising (Letters, October 3, 5, 7 & 10). The five turbines will
be 20m blade tip height (15m hub) – a fairly standard size to see
associated with farm and other buildings in rural areas.
The landscape of Holy Island, which I have visited as well as visiting
Arran many times, is well able to cope with such small-scale structures
within a few hundred metres of inhabited buildings.
The North Ayrshire and Arran planning website lists nine consented wind
turbines on Arran itself, ranging in height from 11 to 34.5m. I don’t
remember these consents causing a stushie in the national press. To put
these “farm-scale” heights in context, 152m turbines are being erected in
South Lanarkshire, 150m turbines proposed next to the military road over
the Corrieyairack, and 176m turbines proposed near Carter Bar.
The Environmental Statement (ES) accompanying the application says that the
project has been scaled “such that the electricity generated annually is a
large proportion of the electricity consumed on the island annually”. The
average Scottish house – with 2.2 occupants – uses 18 MW-hours annually for
heat, light and power. The Holy Island turbines will generate 235 MWh for
multiple buildings with around 35 permanent inhabitants, according to the
ES. This is consistent with the electricity generated being largely for the
island’s own use.
I agree with those who have written complaining that this should not have
been an officer decision. The flouting of the convention that contentious
decisions should be made by locally elected councillors should be the focus
for anger, not a minor development of small turbines providing for local use.
(Dr) Dave Gordon,
60 Bonhard Road, Scone, Perthshire.
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