The Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere Partnership Board have made their representations to the public inquiry into the Clauchrie Windfarm proposal.
The proposed development would see 18 wind turbines up to 200m in height to blade tip with an overall generating capacity of around 100 megawatts (MW) installed.
South Ayrshire Council objected to the proposals last year, but the final decision rests with Scottish Ministers.
The site of the proposed development near Barr is located within the Galloway Forest Park which was recognised by UNESCO as the ‘buffer zone’ of the Biosphere and, due to the absence of light pollution, has also been garlanded as a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park.
The Biosphere Board said that although they support renewable technologies and accept that wind farms with the appropriate community support can be acceptable in the outer ‘transition zone’, “it would be very hard to envisage any form of development that could be more damaging to the key attributes of the Biosphere’s core area, or more at odds with the overall approach to development in the buffer zone, than erecting eighteen turbines, each 200 metres in height, along with the associated noise and light pollution.”
A decision on the proposals is due by August 24, 2021.
The public inquiry will cover the topics of landscape and visual impact, hydrology, socio-economics and tourism, planning and energy policy, aviation, and noise. https://www.ayradvertiser.com/news/19377375.galloway-southern-ayrshire-unesco-biosphere-partnership/?fbclid=IwAR1banyV7BCO6Hmny5KvKxtyC1E71LxmplYevsxm6zjF0hy2svrCdVFmlvk
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