The communities of Golspie and Brora have united in their condemnation of the decision by developers Scottish and Southern Energy to take huge turbines and blades on the A9 through the two villages and access the site via the turning at the Old School House, Brora, and along the single-track Strath Brora road to Gordonbush.

Protesters are urging SSE to reconsider and to route the traffic along the purpose-built Drummuie road just south of Golspie to the Kilbraur wind farm and extend the road to Gordonbush.

On Wednesday Jamie Stone MSP wrote to Mr Salmond, asking him to "lend his weight in terms of making SSE think again".

The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MSP wrote: "As you are aware, the Scottish Government gave the go-ahead for the installation of wind turbines at Gordonbush, near Brora, Sutherland. I am writing to you because at present SSE are proposing to move the main parts of the wind turbines – the towers, nacelles and blades – by road. The proposed route is the A9 as far as Brora, and thence inland to Gordonbush.

"As you know, the A9 by-passes communities – until you come to Golspie and Brora, where the A9 passes right through the centre of the villages. This is the problem.

"The movement of such vast objects through these villages would be quite unprecedented, and is causing very considerable local concern. The potential disturbance and effect on traffic movement particularly worries people living in these communities.

"For your information, I enclose a copy of recent local newspaper coverage in the Northern Times in which you will be able to see for yourself just how upset people are.

"I have written to SSE asking them to re-route the movement of the turbine parts to Kilbraur (via Drummuie, which is south of Golspie, and Dunrobin Glen) where an entirely separate wind farm is in the final stages of commissioning.

"Gordonbush is approximately two kilometres from Kilbraur, and in my letter I suggest that SSE access their site by building a suitable weight-bearing track between Kilbraur and Gordonbush. This simple approach would avoid moving wind turbine parts through Golspie and Brora. To date I have not received a reply from SSE.

"I, and many of my constituents, would be grateful if you could now intervene in this matter. I urge you to consider the Kilbraur access – and to lend your weight in terms of making SSE think again. The Kilbraur route is entirely do-able. It would demonstrate that SSE takes corporate social responsibility seriously, and that the company does heed the legitimate concerns of ordinary people."

Campaigners, who have urged residents to write to the planning authority and SSE registering their objection, reckon more than 350 people have done so.

One of the main objectors, Valerie Scott of Main Street, Golspie, says: "We have had plenty of people asking for a copy of the letter to send to the planners and SSE and it's the same in Brora. We have posters up and I now have car stickers available, at 30p each.

"We also now have a large placard up on Angus McCall's land at Culmaily which will be seen by people using the A9 and which reads 'Warning – road ahead unsuitable for wind farm traffic' which we hope will catch the eye."

Meanwhile, preparatory traffic is already using the Strath Brora road, according to one witness. A large vehicle carrying ground investigation equipment had extreme difficulty negotiating the bridge at Old Town, taking half a dozen attempts and holding traffic up for 10 or 15 minutes.

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