News items
News Items
WINDFARM GREEN LIGHT AFTER THREE YEARS' DEBATE
A 17-turbine windfarm effectively got the go-ahead from Highland councillors yesterday - ending three years of argument dominated by money and fears for the local landscape, tourism and wildlife.
18 April 2007
CART-BEFORE-HORSE CLAIM OVER CONTENTIOUS ROSS-SHIRE TURBINES PLAN
Developers behind proposals for a controversial 22-turbine Ross-shire windfarm claimed yesterday to have secured permission for a connection to the national grid despite not having council approval for the scheme itself
11 April 2007
COMMUNITY VOTES AGAIN TO REJECT WINDFARM PROPOSAL - IAIN RAMAGE
A Community has voted by a majority of almost 60% to reject proposals for a windfarm near a major route through the Highlands.
It is the second time Garve and Achanasheen Community Council has spurned plans for a development on the Lochluichart Estate near Garve, Ross-shire.
Objectors are now urging the Anglo-Dutch consortium behind the plan to withdraw its application for 22 turbines.
In a community ballot of around 300 residents and property owners, 106 people voted against the scheme and 70 in favour from a turnout of more than 60%.
The Stop Lochluichart Windfarm campaign called on Infinergy Ltd and Lochluichart Estate to formally withdraw its application for the turbines between the A832 to Skye and A835 to Ullapool.
In a statement, it said: "The community has now been balloted twice - on each occasion it has said no. We therefore call on the developer to tell Highland Council it is formally withdrawing the application.
"Failure to withdraw will clearly demonstrate that what the developer really cares about is not the planet or local opinion but £7million a year in renewable subsidy payments courtesy of the taxpayer."
It continued: "Documents released by Scottish Natural Heritage show the developer is fully aware this scheme is hardly viable anyway. It just wants the money in spite of knowing that Highland Council has a policy against windfarm development in this area."
Highland councillors are expected to discuss the application in May. Scottish ministers will take the final decision.
Local postmaster Harry Goudie, who has fought against the project, hailed the latest vote as a victory, but added: "I am relieved the ballot is over.
"It has all been terribly damaging and divisive in a small community where people need to get on."
Independent experts commissioned by the objectors claim the developer, Infinergy, has exaggerated the windfarm's potential green house gas savings by as much as 150% and has failed to produce detailed wind-speed data.
Infinergy comprises property firm Savills and Koop Duurzame Energie, part of the Dutch Koop engineering group in partnership with the Lochluichart Estate home of city banker Hamish Leslie-Melville.
A spokeswoman for the developers said: "The ballot result is very interesting. It seems to us that the inclusion of holiday home owners has clearly had an effect on the result.
"Infinergy has always been keen to understand how the true local residents feel and we believe that it's a shame that the ballot result has been distorted by the inclusion of occasional visitors."
He said he believed that judging by questionnaires completed by visitors to its exhibitions, 66% of "permanent local residents" supported the proposals.
He added: "Nearly 5,000 people have written Lochluichart support letters to the executive compared to just over 1,000 letters from opponents."
13 March 2007
Dispute flares on wind farm 'false hopes'
A WIND farm developer has been accused of raising false hopes over jobs and windfall cash in order to secure a £7million a year public subsidy.
The charge against the Anglo-Dutch consortium behind plans for a 22-turbine scheme on Lochluichart Estate was levelled by the group campaigning to block the scheme in the wake of a Meet the Buyer forum staged in Inverness by Infinergy Ltd last week.
02 February 2007
Mini-council members fear being sued
COMMUNITY representatives trying to gauge local feeling over a revised £53million Ross wind farm proposal fear they could end up being sued in the latest twist to an unfolding saga being watched around the world.
19 January, 2007
Objectors claim plans for major wind farm 'misleading'
OBJECTORS to a major wind farm plan say developers have exaggerated its green benefits and failed to carry out proper studies on the impact it will have.
10 January 2007
Time for co-ordination on policy on wind farms
A letter from James Cornwell, Culdee, Chanonry Crescent, Fortrose
Sir - Is it not time that the wrangling over small-scale wind farms is ended by imposing a moratorium on all such applications until a fully co-ordinated action plan for delivery of renewable energy is prepared?
An action plan needs a clear aim and the Scottish Executive has proposed a target of 6GW of electrical energy to be obtained from all renewable resources by 2020.
29 December, 2006
Should the revised Lochluichart wind farm proposal be approved?
The windfarm vote ended at 3.20pm on December 15, after two weeks, with 1,750 in favour and 1,706 against. Thanks to everyone who voted, even if you did so more than once - there were cheats on both sides! And thanks for all your comments. The selection below indicates the passions and convictions held by everyone. The debate, no doubt, will continue.
15 December 2006
WINDFARM CYNICISM ACCUSATION
Objectors to a £53million windfarm in Wester Ross have accused the developer of cynically timing its planning application to coincide with Christmas and publicity of the Beauly to Denny pylon line inquiry.
1 December 2006
Vocal majority have expressed their wishes
A letter from Donald G Northwood, Achanalt House, Achanalt, By Garve.
"I WRITE this letter as a member of the public and not in my role as Garve and District Community Council Secretary who finds the remarks made by the Charles Sandham, chief executive of Infinergy in your article 'Website promotes wind farm' November 24 an insult to the intelligence of people in the Garve and district community."
1 December 2006
NATIONAL TRUST JOINS WINDFARM OBJECTORS
The National Trust for Scotland has echoed official objections from residents and other quangos about plans for a giant windfarm on a Highland estate owned by its former chairman.
NTS policy chief John Mayhew has written to the Scottish Executive's energy consents unit stating that the trust is "broadly sympathetic" to issues raised by Scottish Natural Heritage and the John Muir Trust about proposals for 43 turbines, each 125 metres high, on the Lochluichart Estate near Garve, Ross-shire.
4 April 2006
COUNCIL FACES TORRID TIME OVER GREEN ENERGY POLICY
An ANGLO-Dutch developer planning a controversial Highland windfarm exaggerated both its likely power generation and its forecast contribution towards reducing carbon emissions, it was claimed yesterday.
Such claims are likely to dominate a day-long special debate today in Inverness hosted by Highland Council.
22 March 2006
National Trust For Scotland wind farm concern
National Trust For Scotland have written to Scottish Executive and Highland Council expressing their concern regarding the proposed development and setting out its general approach to the issue of renewable energy.
16 March 2006
More Reader's letters in Ross-shire Journal
28 February 2006
Reader's letters in Ross-shire Journal
Several readers have sent letters to the editor of the Ross-shire Journal regarding the proposed wind farm.
Wind firm's words are rich indeed!
Consultation concerns over Lochluichart wind farm
20 February 2006
BUILDING OF WINDFARM 'COULD BRING £50M BONUS'
The economy of the Highlands and Islands could make up to £50million from the construction phase of a huge windfarm proposed by a former chairman of the National Trust for Scotland, according to its developers.
The investment, dismissed by objectors as pie in the sky, was indicated by a consortium behind a 43-turbine proposal for Lochluichart, Ross-shire.
13 February 2006
Wind farms face 10-year delay for grid connection
THE government's renewable energy policy is in chaos after hundreds of wind farm companies were told that they face delays of more than 10 years before they can sell any of the electricity that they produce.
Green energy targets are under threat because the national grid is unable to cope with the large numbers of wind farms applying for connection.
5 February 2006
Charity blasts wind farm as scenic disaster for Highlands
OUTSTANDING views from five of Scotland's best-loved peaks will be ruined if controversial plans for a major wind farm in the Highlands go ahead, claims a leading environmental charity.
The John Muir Trust, the conservation charity which owns Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest mountain, fears that an £89 million renewable energy development proposed for the Lochluichart Estate in Ross-shire will dominate a landscape overlooked by the towering peaks of five of the country's most popular Munros.
2 February 2006
Scottish Natural Heritage objection lodged.
A formal objection to the wind farm proposal was lodged by Scottish Natural Heritage on 20 January 2006.
The full document can be downloaded and viewed by clicking below.
31 January 2006
Wind farm risk to low-flying jets
A CONTROVERSIAL windfarm planned for one of Scotland's most scenic areas is among developments that pose a potential risk to aircraft safety, aviation chiefs have warned.
More than 40 wind turbines over 400ft tall are planned for Lochluichart Estate, near Garve, in the Highlands, making them among the tallest anywhere in the UK. They will be visible from a series of famous mountain ranges including the Fannichs, Torridon and Strathfarrar.
29 January 2006
PROTESTERS TARGET FORMER NATIONAL TRUST BOSS
Campaigners hope a coast-to-coast leafleting campaign will take the wind out of the sails of a major windfarm planned for one of the most scenic parts of the Highlands.
Homes from Ullapool to Muir of Ord will be targeted on an estate owned by a former chairman of the National Trust for Scotland.
28 January 2006
RSPB Media release
Wind farms blamed for death of eagles
Wind turbines have caused the deaths of huge birds of prey on isolated islands off the Norwegian coast.
The discovery of four dead white-tailed eagles, and the failure of almost 30 others to return to nesting sites within the wind farm area, has increased fears that wind farms in Britain could take a similar toll on native and migrating wild birds.
28 January 2006
COUNCIL'S ENERGY POLICY UNDER FIRE
Parts of the Highland's wonderful landscape will be marred by the Highland Council's "heavy bias" towards onshore windfarms, an influential conservation body claimed yesterday.
The criticism of the council's proposed Renewable Energy Strategy was expressed by the John Muir Trust, the country's leading wild land conservation charity which owns vast tracts of Highland wildland.
24 January 2006
Wind farm backer is ex-National Trust boss
A HIGHLAND laird with a stake in controversial plans for an £89 million wind farm on his estate is a former chairman of the National Trust for Scotland.
Top banker Hamish Leslie Melville's Lochluichart Estate, near Garve, is a partner in a proposed 43-turbine development on the 30,000-acre property.
23 January 2006
Bias in Favour of Onshore Wind Farms will be to the Detriment of the Highland Landscape, says John Muir Trust.
Fears that a "heavy bias towards onshore wind farms" in Highland Council's proposed Renewable Energy Strategy will be detrimental to the Highland landscape and wild land, were expressed today by the John Muir Trust, the country's leading wild land conservation charity.
23 January 2006
CSFB boss sparks a Highlands lament
I hear Credit Suisse First Boston managing director Hamish Leslie Melville has upset his neighbours with plans to build a 43-turbine wind farm on his Lochluichart estate in the Scottish Highlands. Leslie Melville, along with a company formed by Savills and a Dutch wind farm developer, has applied for planning permission to erect the windmills on land the developers describe as "degraded habitat".
20 January 2006
Wind farm campaign goes global
The campaign to stop the proposed wind farm at Lochluichart is to go global
Campaigners who fear the wind farm will damage Highland tourism and threaten wildlife have set up a website to let objectors email their opposition from anywhere in the world.
20 January 2006
LOCALS GET SAY ON PLANS FOR MASSIVE WINDFARM
Village councillors in a Ross-shire community are ensuring all residents have a say in the controversy over plans for a massive windfarm on their doorstep.
Garve and District Community Council has already lodged an official objection with Highland Council over proposals for a 43-turbine farm at Lochluichart and one for 15 turbines at Corriemoillie.
16 January 2006
Locals urged to oppose Lochluichart windfarm
RESIDENTS protesting against a windfarm they believe will threaten their scenic landscape are calling on others to register their objections before this month's deadline.
13 January 2006
Garve and District Community Council objection
The Community Council have submitted an objection to the proposed wind farm. You can read a copy of their letter here. (pdf file)
8 December 2005
Readers comments in the Press and Journal
Read the comments of two readers, published in the 'Press and Journal', regarding the proposed wind farm. (pdf file)
Lochluichart press release.
Read the views of local residents presented in two press releases. (pdf file)
