Windfarm
Developments...
I wonder if this will be my last report on windfarm planning applications for the Ochils… I sincerely hope so and I trust that we have seen the last of the totally unreasonable number of applications and public inquiries etc. for windfarms in the Ochils. However, before I sign off I want to bring you up-to-date with the remaining decisions that have been made over the past few months.
The good
news is that we have seen the last two windfarm applications that went
to public inquiry turned down by Reporters from the Directorate for Planning
and Environmental Appeals. The first decision was made in February 2008,
when the Reporter dismissed the appeal and refused planning permission
for five wind turbines at Rossie, near Auchtermuchty in Fife. The proposed
windfarm at the far eastern end of the Ochils would have had a devastating
effect on the local community and it is to their credit that the people
of Auchtermuchty put up such a strong fight to oppose the development.
The Friends of the Ochils were not directly involved with the campaign,
but we can but only celebrate the decision to refuse.
Following a spirited fight by local residents, the Reporter for the Tillyrie
public inquiry also refused the application for five turbines in the hills
above Milnathort. FotO did participate in this inquiry, and we worked
closely with a very effective team of objectors. As with all public inquiries,
the Reporter’s letter giving the reasons for the decision makes
interesting reading. The conclusion that the proposed windfarm would be
contrary to the provisions of the development plan is very welcome, but
so are some of the comments about the impact of adding yet another windfarm
to those already approved for the Ochils.
The Reporter stated that: “In granting permission for the windfarm at Lochelbank, it is clear that one factor to which the Reporter gave weight was its degree of separation from the already permitted wind farms at Green Knowes and Burnfoot Hill. […] Although a small proposal in itself, the addition of the wind cluster at Tillyrie would begin to erode that separation and create a situation where wind turbines would start to be seen, if not as dominant, then nonetheless as characteristic features of the landscape of the Central Ochils.”
Let us hope that the message now gets across to any developers who may yet have further designs on the Ochils that three wind farms is quite enough, thank you, and now leave us alone! Enough damage has been done.
One final bit of news… The conditions for the Burnfoot Hill windfarm have now been finalised and it is of some comfort that Clackmannanshire Council have stated that the proposed route for the grid connection shown in the Environmental Statement (i.e. down the scarp face of the Ochils through Alva) is NOT approved. It is a pity that Clackmannanshire Council did not have the same sensitivities about the original windfarm application that they have rightly shown for the grid connection.
Stuart
Dean
FotO Vice-chair