LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Mountaineering Council of Scotland says windfarm would ruin wild landscape around Rannoch Moor 

Credit:  By Richard Burdge | The Courier | 9 July 2014 | www.thecourier.co.uk ~~

Scotland’s mountaineers are fighting a windfarm proposal which they claim would blight some of Perthshire’s most unspoiled landscapes.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) is urging the Scottish Government to reject a plan which they say threatens the iconic wild landscape of Rannoch, spoiling views from many popular mountains including Schiehallion.

The Talladh-a-Bheithe windfarm, which would lie on the estate of the same name just to the north-east of Rannoch Moor, would consist of 24 turbines, each 125 metres tall.

If given the go-ahead, it would affect views from Schiehallion, the Ben Alder massif, the mountains above Glen Lyon and Loch Tay and some above the Drumochter Pass.

David Gibson, chief officer of the Perth-based MCofS said the proposal presented ministers with the “opportunity to prove they are serious about protecting our most precious wild landscapes”.

“Schiehallion, Rannoch Moor and the route to Glencoe all have a very special place in people’s hearts and in Scottish culture,” he said.

“It is a stunning landscape vista which is very sensitive to any form of intrusive human activity and an increasingly rare and valuable experience in Scotland.”

As well as the turbines the proposal would involve bulldozed access tracks, buildings and infrastructure on an area of raised moorland between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht.

The MCofS say the development would sit within an area identified as being of “nationally important environmental interest” under Scottish Planning Policy, which calls for “significant protection” from development for such areas.

Grounds for refusal could include the major visual impact of the development and because it is not necessary in order to meet Scottish Government objectives for renewable energy generation.

“We support the Scottish Government’s drive to develop renewable energy in all its forms and have welcomed the new planning policy which aims to balance the need for renewable energy with significant protection for wild land,” said Mr Gibson.

“There might be a reason for the approval of this proposal if there was a dearth of onshore windfarm 
developments coming forward to achieve the Scottish Government’s energy goals, but this is not the case, so Talladh-a-Bheithe cannot be considered a necessary development, far less an essential one, and it’s certainly not in the national interest.”

The MCofS objection to the plan notes that there are 54 mountains designated as Munros and Corbetts within 35 kilometres of the site, from which the development would be visible.

Source:  By Richard Burdge | The Courier | 9 July 2014 | www.thecourier.co.uk

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon