Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Thursday 31 March 2011

Tomatin wind power station proposal

The Cairngorm National Park Authority has said that the park's "sense of wildness" would be harmed if the proposed wind power station comprising 29 turbines at Glenkirk, near Tomatin, were to be approved. The initial application by Eurus Energy was for 34 turbines.

The park's planning officers have recommended that the planning committee object to the proposal.

The turbines would be visible from several areas within the park including some areas of Aviemore and Glenmore as well as from Meall a Bhuachaille.

The Planning Committee will meet in Boat of Garten.

Below is a photograph of the Burnfoot turbines in the Ochils, taken from Glen Bee, none of which were turning on the five days we spent on these hills last week. The Green Knowes turbines were doing no better and this state of affairs is far from unusual.

Burnfoot turbines

Before the turbines


9 comments:

Alan Sloman said...

Hi Gibson

Even though part of this power plant is proposed to be on land where there is a "presumption against" planning being granted, with the recent planning decision at Corriemoillie having bashed straight through defence, it is doubtful that this development will be stopped. I shall add it to my map of the "Monadhliath's Ring of Steel"

afootinthehills said...

Hi Alan

In the article I read, it said that the park's officers had noted that 'part of the site was earmarked in Highland Council's Renewable Energy Strategy for possible wind farm development'.

Not that it matters one way or the other. The development will no doubt be approved by these crazy clowns.

selfpowered said...

oh lord, not another one. I hate to use the c word, but this really is starting to look like a conspiracy - against rural economies and in a much broader sense, against nature and wild life and our need for wilderness to sustain us as mortal human beings.

AlanR said...

The lunatics are running the asylum.

Andy B. said...

I already posted the links to the Tomatin development and to a "report" by the Beeb on Alan's blog.

The second report "Votes blowing in the wind"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-12910628

gives a sense of the uphill battle we face.

Note the way in which Kevin Keane brushes aside any concerns: On the one hand we have the drive for renewables (invariably labelled as 'sustainable' and 'clean', as if the manufacturing of the turbines, the quarrying of the thousands of tonnes of rocks, the dirt road across unspoilt and delicate hillsides wasn't a crime against the environment!) and the reasonable people who do not have a problem with it.

On the other side you have the nymbys, protesters with "properties with views directly" on the developments. How dare they! In any case, they are a 'minority', a mere 'handful of voters'. And the argument has 'almost lost its impact'.

Nice piece of investigative journalism. Has Mr Keane ever bothered to walk up to a hill before, during and after construction of a wind plant? Has he bothered to read the dossier about what happened at Braes of Doune? Why doesn't he hop it to Griffin Forest to see the pollution of burns, why doesn't he take an early walk at Braes of Doune to see how many dead birds there are under the blades?

Sadly, the BBC is the biggest opinion-maker in the country and they will NEVER tell the truth about what wind plants do the environment---a nice trip to China where they do the dirty work of mining for the stuff that goes into the turbines' magnet would be a good start.

B*&^%$rds the lot f them

Anonymous said...

In essence, it's not much different from the clearances, is it? Powerful, vested interests eye up large tracts of land, decide they have a use for them and proceed to ride roughshod over the interests of anyone in their path.

Not so different at all.

afootinthehills said...

David - Salmond and his crew are certainly on a on a roll with no concern for anyone.

Alan - no known cure for them either.

Andy B. - sorry, I missed your link to the Tomatin proposal. I'm fairly sure we are talking to ourselves in the main, which doesn't bode well at all.

Byeways - very true, and the results will be just as disastrous.

Andrew W said...

It all goes to show the gap between being in power, and the spin to get into power.
I think the C should be for Corruption rather than Conspiracy. Whatever the case they are going to do pretty much what they want, when they want, wherever they want, and say the people gave us the mandate to do it, even if we didn't.
Makes you worry about democracy, but at least they don't lock you away when you voice an opinion, they just totally ignore it.
It's going to get bloody hard to find a windfarm free route in any of our wild areas soon, if not already.

afootinthehills said...

AKKW - I've written to one MSP candidate pointing out that her latest 'Election Communication Leaflet' makes no mention of protecting wild land. Strange, because not only is she currently climbing the Munros but was also involved in the Wild Land Campaign and was pictured with Cameron McNeish in a local paper about a month ago.

As it happens, I don't actually doubt her sincerity on this issue so will be interested to read her reply.