The Danish billionaire who owns nearly a dozen estates in Scotland is
taking on the Scottish Government in a major windfarm battle which
threatens the view from his land.
Anders Povlsen is launching a judicial review into the decision to allow a
controversial windfarm in Sutherland.
Mr Povlsen is furious over the Scottish Government giving permission for
the wind farm on the Altnaharra estate, owned by Jim Gray, 82, the founder
of the Gray & Adams transport company, in Fraserburgh.
A “local” petition which was used to back the controversial wind farm was
said to have been hijacked by people from Doncaster, Dunfermline and
Fraserburgh.
Gray & Adams also has branches in Dunfermline and Doncaster.
Opposition politicians have demanded that the Scottish government
reconsider its decision to approve the 22-turbine Creag Riabhach
development, since local support for the project was one of the main
arguments ministers relied on in giving it the go-ahead.
Creag Riabhach was approved two months ago by Paul Wheelhouse, the
business, innovation and energy minister, despite being partially located
on wild land.
It is the first wind farm to have been approved in a designated wild land
area since the Scottish government adopted a revised planning framework in
2014.
The new rules are designed to protect the country’s most rugged and
beautiful landscapes, but Mr Wheelhouse justified his contentious decision
by saying the project had “popular support from the local community council
and public alike”.
Now Mr Povlsen’s Wildland Ltd has confirmed it is seeking a judicial review
of the controversial decision and is lodging its appeal with the Court of
Session.
The Creag Riabhach turbines, each up to 80 metres high, will be visible
from several of Mr Povlsen’s properties.
There is a three month time limit on seeking judicial review.
Generally, review is confined to purely procedural grounds – such as the
official action was illegal or improper – although the court will also
sanction decisions which are, in substance, so unreasonable that no
reasonable decision-maker could have reached it.
Thomas MacDonell, Director of Conservation for Wildland Limited, said:”We
are concerned about the proliferation of windfarms in the area. We have
applied for a judicial review. How they got permission for that windfarm
God only knows?
“The turbines are definitely in the wrong place. We think there are
contradictions with the Scottish Government (policies) over this. There are
contradictions to other decisions. We feel it’s an industrialisation of our
precious land.
“Our passion for our land-holdings in Scotland is to maintain their wild
and natural beauty.”
Mr MacDonell said Mr Povlsen was not against windfarms. But the Altnaharra
decision had “inconsistencies” and if successful the review could decide to
start the consent process again.
“If the consent stands we will consider our investment strategy in that
part of the world. It would change the whole atmosphere of that area. It is
possible we could pull out of that part of the world. We would have to
review our long term strategy to our Northern cluster (of estates),” he added.
Analysis of an Altnaharra community petition in support of the development
showed that local approval was insignificant compared to blocs of support
in other places, all of them hundreds of miles away from the proposed site
of the turbines.
Lodged with the government’s Energy Consents Unit, the petition shows that
166 people supporting the wind farm were registered at postcodes in
Fraserburgh, where Gray & Adams has its headquarters, and nearby Peterhead.
These towns are more than 160 miles from the wind farm site.
Support for the wind farm in postcode area IV27, including Altnaharra and
Tongue, 16 miles away, amounted to 49 people, although only 11 adults are
thought to live permanently in the village of Altnaharra itself.
Significant support came from further afield. According to their postcodes,
a total of 53 people from Doncaster and South Yorkshire signed up in favour
of Creag Riabhach, along with 34 from Fife. The Gray & Adams branch in
Doncaster is 460 miles from the wind farm, and its branch in Dunfermline is
207 miles away.
However Councillor Graham Phillips, chair of the Sutherland County
Committee – and a member of the North Planning Applications Committee which
supported the windfarm – has said the petition had “no bearing” on members.
As well as owning the Altnaharra estate, Mr Gray and other members of his
family and senior employees are listed as directors of Creag Riabhach Wind
Farm Limited.
Murdo Fraser, the shadow finance secretary, has called for the application
to be reassessed by government.
“Unless we are to believe that the good people of Doncaster have an unusual
interest in wind farms in Sutherland, it appears that support for this
controversial development has been manufactured by the very firm which
wants to build it,” said Mr Fraser.
“We know the SNP has driven through wind farms without the support of many
local communities across Scotland. The ministers who agreed to these plans
now have some very serious explaining to do about whether due process has
been followed.”
Each of Creag Riabhach’s turbines is 80 metres high with maximum generating
capacity of 3.3MW. Together they have the potential to power 36,000 homes.
At Creag Riabhach, a local fund would be “for the benefit of any resident
or local business within the area of Altnaharra” and was estimated at
£181,500 a year, or more than £4.5 million over the 25-year operational
life of the wind farm, according to the application.
It is planned that the wind farm is likely to feed the national grid in 2020.
The Scottish government said: “The application for Creag Riabhach received
strong support from the local community council in Altnaharra.”
Clothing magnate Mr Povlsen has been behind plans for a “world class” £100m
plus luxury spa development in one of the remotest parts of the country,
with the aim of creating around 100 jobs in the process.
Mr Povlsen, who owns clothing house Bestseller, is believed to be the
second largest private land owner in Scotland, after the Duke of Buccleuch,
who has 240,000 acres.
He recently bought the 18,000-acre Eriboll estate in Sutherland and is now
within 7,000 acres of having the most land in private hands north of the
border.
His property empire comprises 218,364 acres.
The man said by Forbes to be worth nearly £4.5bn recently added two more
estates in Sutherland – where he already owns three.
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