Plans for a 14-turbine wind farm at Heathland Forest near Forth are set to go before the Scottish Government.
South Lanarkshire Council’s (SLC) planning committee agreed not to object to the proposals on Tuesday, June 8.
Once complete, the wind farm – 1.5km north east of Forth – would be capable of generating 80MW of electricity and a battery storage unit would be included on site.
Planning and building standards manager Tony Finn said: “The proposals represent an amendment to a previous consent that was issued by the Scottish Government in 2018.
“That involved the erection of 17 turbines at a height of 132m. The current proposals involve the erection of 14 turbines, a reduction in number, but the height of the turbines has been increased.
“The principle of a wind farm here has been established by the previous granting of consent.
“We are quite satisfied that there is no adverse additional impact compared with the previous scheme particularly in terms of landscape character, the visual amenity of the area and residential amenity.”
Two-thirds of the site sits within South Lanarkshire with the rest in West Lothian.
Of the 14 proposed turbines, 10 would be in South Lanarkshire and four in West Lothian.
Three of the turbines – all in South Lanarkshire – would be 150m tall while the remaining 11 would be 180m tall.
SLC have requested that the Scottish Government conclude a legal agreement with developers EDF to cover community contributions, the funding of a planning monitoring officer and the cost of any damage to roads associated with the development.
Councillor Alex Allison (Clydesdale East) asked if community contributions from the wind farm developers could be extended to include Carnwath as “one of the main residential areas” nearby.
Mr Finn added: “We will take that up with our colleagues in economic development to make sure that is the case.” https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-area/lanarkshire/plans-wind-turbine-farm-near-24291116?fbclid=IwAR0xqduNCkapKGACMkZeqoeeCmwULHq1hV7LCDy3QarDsZsppaW6MiQ8pzM
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