Aviation chiefs have grounded plans for a Newton Mearns windfarm over safety fears.
Proposals for six turbines measuring 76.5m between Shieldhill Farm and Moor Road were presented to East Renfrewshire Council’s planning committee last week but Councillors rejected the plans after National Air Traffic Service bosses raised concerns about losing track of planes.
NATS claim that the turbines could interfere with their radars in Glasgow and Cumbernauld with the potential for air traffic controllers to mistake them for planes.
And after objecting to the plans a spokesman for the organisation said “NATS is always consulted on wind turbine planning applications because they can interfere with radar signals our air traffic cotroller use to manage aircraft. Safety is always our top priority and in those cases we have no alternative but to object to the development.”
The latest application had been in the pipeline for three years with a series of delays preventing the planning committee from making a decision until last week. It came after proposals for 19 turbines were rejected and subsequently dismissed on appeal by Scottish Ministers in 2014. Coriolis Energy acting on behalf of the applicant Moorhouse Windfarm, had again asked that the planning committee delay any decision until a full report into aviation impacts was completed. As well as the NATS objection the council received 14 other consultation responses demanding that plans were rejected.
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