Charity says new conservation guidance should be considered

A conservation charity is urging Highland councilors to reconsider a decision on two Sutherland wind farms in light of new evidence.

The John Muir Trust has written to members of Highland Council’s planning committee asking them to lodge objections to the wind farms planned for Glencassley and Sallachy in Sutherland in light of new national planning policy guidelines.

In May 2013, the committee decided not to object to the two proposals after planning officials pointed to uncertainty in the Scottish Government’s attitude to wild land protection from wind farms.

Since then, the Scottish Parliament has approved a new National Planning Framework that reinfiorces the government’s commitment to the “strong protection of our wildest landscapes.”

Where there may have been some confusion in the past, there is now clarity

In August Energy Minister Fergus Ewing refused an application for a similar wind farm at Glenmorie in Easter Ross because of unacceptable visual and landscape impacts.

“The national planning regime has changed since the council last considered these proposals,” said John Low, policy officer for the John Muir Trust.

“Where there may have been some confusion in the past, there is now clarity.

“If these schemes were allowed to go ahead, 48 turbines, each three times the height of the Skye Bridge, would be scattered across an area officially mapped and defined as wild land.

“The integrity of the entire Wild Land Areas map would be compromised, and the commitments to wild land protection in the national planning framework and Scottish Planning Policy would be rendered worthless.”

“We are now urging councillors to reconsider both applications in the light of the spirit and content of new national planning policy and guidance.”