A controversial property tycoon and Tory donor is set to rake in millions from massive onshore wind farms planned in one of Scotland’s most fragile communities.
London-based financier Dr Christopher Moran – who owns the 48,000-acre Cabrach Estate in Moray – has been described as a “wind farm vulture” and even launched his own renewables firm.
The colourful multimillionaire has a chequered 40-year history in finance and real estate – with previous scandals around insider trading and prostitution in a block of flats his firm owned.
In the Cabrach – which includes Moran’s sprawling estate – local groups said the scale of wind farm construction planned will be unprecedented and turn it into “the UK’s largest onshore wind park”.
They fear the tiny, remote community is already close to “saturation point” with the size of proposed developments leaving it “at risk of extinction”.
A first wave of construction has already seen 77 turbines built across two operating wind farms, Dorenell and Clashindarroch.
Dorenell Wind Farm, on Moran’s Cabrach and Glenfiddich Estate south of Dufftown, launched in 2019 – with the landowner reportedly earning more than £1million a year in rent from Dutch developers Infinergy.
And now a second AND third wave of developments have been green-lit – including an extension of Clashindarroch Wind Farm that would also be located on Moran’s land.
Jack Irvine, a political adviser to community group the Cabrach Trust, told the Record the businessman will “gain financially at the expense of the community”.
He said: “Historically, his estate in the Cabrach has one of the worst records for wildlife crime in Scotland.
“Moran’s reputation as a landowner in Scotland is possibly worse than his reputation in the financial worlds of London and New York.”
Workers on the Cabrach Estate have previously been prosecuted for animal neglect amid allegations of dog fighting – while it has a grim history of killings of protected birds of prey and the use of cruel animal traps.
In just five months during 1998, a joint investigation by the RSPB and the police recorded ten incidents of wildlife offences on the estate.
Patti Nelson, chair of the Cabrach Community Association, said: “This is of a course a sensitive matter as we are all part of the same community.
“However, the Cabrach Community Association, alongside The Cabrach Trust, maintains a positive, hopeful outlook for the Cabrach.
“An outlook which centres on the Cabrach as our home, home for many others, and hopefully home for an increasing number over the years ahead, whilst protecting the natural habitat, cultural heritage, and wild beauty of the place.
“Whether that vision is shared by the Estate is for others to comment on.” Read on: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tory-donor-set-rake-millions-32108655
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