Danish laird halts landgrab over turbines – Sunday Times

Mark Macaskill

He has splashed out tens of millions in his efforts to preserve the natural
beauty of the Highlands. Now, Anders Povlsen’s love affair with Scotland
appears to be ebbing after ministers backed a wind farm that he believes
will scar the landscape and damage tourism.

The Danish billionaire, who owns almost a dozen Scottish estates, is
reviewing his investment plans after the Scottish government approved the
22-turbine Creag Riabhach wind farm in Sutherland a fortnight ago.

Povlsen, who is poised to overtake the Duke of Buccleuch as Scotland’s
largest private landowner, is upset with the decision, which follows years
of negotiation by the Dane to buy his latest pile, the 18,000-acre Eriboll
estate.

The Creag Riabhach turbines, each up to 125 metres high, will be visible
from several of Povlsen’s properties, including Eriboll.

A spokesman for Povlsen said the billionaire is not against wind farms but
disagrees with Holyrood’s latest decision to support a “wind factory” in
the Highlands.

“Our passion for our land-holdings in Scotland is to maintain their wild
and natural beauty,” said a spokesman for Povlsen.

“Our very large, internally agreed investment budget . . . [has] now to be
reviewed by Mr Povlsen in light of this ruling on the Creag Riabhach wind
factory. This review will be led partly by our disappointment of what we
believe will be the degradation of the view and feeling experienced in this
environment but also by the hard economic facts: can such a world-class
tourism vision exist in a potentially industrial landscape?”

The company behind the Creag Riabhach wind farm has claimed that more than
£9m will be generated for the local community over 25 years, and that
businesses and residents will have their electricity “or equivalent” paid
by the wind farm. Part of the income generated by the wind farm will
support five jobs in Altnaharra.

Environmentalists argue that the wind farm is “a major industrial
development” and a “Trojan horse” that is likely to attract further wind
farm applications. One concern is that tourists will be deterred from
embarking on North Coast 500, a Highland route that is Scotland’s answer to
America’s Route 66.

Holyrood’s support for Creag Riabhach has reignited claims that Scottish
ministers are “riding roughshod” over rural communities. Some have
complained that too many turbines spoil local scenery, while some councils
have asked for moratoriums to be put in place to cope with the influx of
planning applications.

New data published this weekend shows that two-thirds of wind farm
applications rejected by local authorities have been overturned by the
Scottish government so far this year. Of the 17 appeals submitted to and
ruled upon by ministers in Edinburgh, 11 have been allowed.

“Too often, when these applications are lodged, the people say no, council
planners say no and local elected representatives say no,” said Alexander
Burnett, the Scottish Conservative’s energy spokesman. “Yet still we see
ministers in Edinburgh pulling ranks and acting like they know what’s best
for rural Scotland.

“Of course wind energy has a place in Scotland’s energy mix, but only when
the turbines are not ruining local scenery and upsetting those who have to
see them every day.

“The SNP should be opening its mind to other sources, like shale
extraction, but instead it’s continuing on its bloody-minded path of having
Scotland’s countryside plastered with unreliable and intermittent wind farms.”

As revealed by The Sunday Times last week, Povlsen is within 7,000 acres of
becoming Scotland’s largest private landowner. His property empire
comprises 218,364 acres. A spokesman for Buccleuch said the duke’s
land-holding stands at just under 225,000 acres.