By Andrew McNair
Councillors have blocked a 10-turbine windfarm in the Glenkens.
Burcote Wind’s hopes for planning permission for the site near Carsphairn
were dashed when members voted 7-5 against the project last Thursday.
They’d been to see the site just two days earlier after a previous decision
on the windfarm had been delayed.
Their decision comes just a month after Burcote Wind bosses had criticised
council planners.
Operations director Fraser Campbell said he had a “number of concerns”
about a report that went before councillors that recommended refusal. They
felt it “gave an inaccurate representation of the application”.
Case officer Chris McTeir recommended refusal on the grounds the windfarm
would have an adverse effect on the landscape and views around the area
with only the council’s landscape architect and archaeologist objecting to
the plan.
Some councillors sided with the wind company saying they struggled to see a
“cumulative effect” mentioned in the report when on their site visit.
But council officials insisted a “tipping point” has been reached around
the site which is between two scenic areas.
The site was also described as an “archeological sensitive area”.
Councillor Jane Maitland hit back at councillors taking issue with the
planners recommendation to refuse the proposal saying going against it
would be “quite dangerous”.
When councillors did eventually vote, seven came out against Burcote Wind’s
plan with five in support.
Council leader Elaine Murray abstained due to her missing the site visit.
It’s around five years since Fife-based Burcote announced plans for a £130
million development on the site featuring 36 turbines up to 134 metres high.
The numbers were later reduced to 23 and again to 10.
Burcote claim the windfarm would have benefited the local community to the
tune of £115,000 per year.
Burcote’s Mr Campbell said after the vote: “We are disappointed by this
decision, in particular having received no objections from statutory
consultees outwith the council’s internal landscape architect and archeologist.
“We have worked closely with the council and consultees for the last five
years to ensure that we brought forward an application that was both
sensitively designed and located and one which addressed previous issues on
the site.
“We believe that this is a genuine missed opportunity for not only the
local communities around the development who would have benefited from both
our community benefit and community ownership models but also for the wider
region, in particular local companies who could have benefited from our
unique local procurement policy.
“We will now hold an internal review of the decision and consider our next
steps.”
0 Comments