Highland councillors unanimously approved the two-turbine micro wind farm, to be built on common grazings on Skelpick Estate on the southern outskirts of Bettyhill.

The 120m turbines will be visible from a viewpoint and picnic area on the A836 where large numbers of tourists stop to look at Ben Loyal and Ben Hope.

Councillors' approval was given in the face of widespread concern from individuals, community councils and public bodies including Scottish Natural Heritage and the council's own landscape architect.

Members of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Planning Applications and Review Committee met to consider the application at a planning hearing in Bettyhill Village Hall on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by around 45 members of the public.

Planners revealed they had received 46 letters from individuals objecting to the development.

Scottish Natural Heritage also came out in opposition, claiming it would have a "significant visual impact".

Bettyhill, Strathnaver and Altnaharra Community Council also lodged an objection, although Tongue Community Council did not object and Melvich Community Council had no comment to make.

The council's own landscape architect criticised the photo montages supplied by developer, North British Windpower Ltd, claiming the viewing distance was too short and the height of the images too small.

The architect said that the standard of the visualisations presented made it impossible to appreciate all the possible impacts of the proposal.

Planning officials recommended the application be approved, saying the visual impact was considered to be relatively limited and over a small public area. However, officials said the visual impact of the wind farm increased when considered along with plans for two other wind farms in the pipeline, at Strathy North and Strathy South.

Christopher Wilkins, chairman of North British Windpower Ltd, addressed the hearing.

He said the company had looked at 220 potential wind farm sites throughout Scotland and selected 12 of these to take forward, one of which was at Bettyhill.

Mr Wilkins said they had first looked at the Bettyhill site in 2002 and had originally intended to erect 58 turbines but since then the numbers had been massively scaled back due to fears over the effect on birds.

He told the hearing: "Anyone who comes to Sutherland is overawed by the magnificence of the landscape and whether or not turbines are visually acceptable in such a landscape is a subjective judgement. It is a matter of size and scale."

Under questioning from North, West and Central Sutherland councillor Robbie Rowantree, Mr Wilkins revealed the community benefit from the wind farm would amount to £1000 a megawatt. However, committee clerk Karen MacLeod said the committee could not take the amount of community benefit into consideration when deciding on the application.

Bettyhill crofter and consultant chartered engineer Michael Mackay, who is clerk to the common grazings, told the hearing that crofters were strongly in support of the development.

"This proposal has been sited on a commercial common grazings. It is not a nature reserve, it is a common grazings that has been pretty well worked out by peat cuttings and is not in a pristine condition," he said.

"Crofting is becoming seriously uneconomic and I have seen a steep decline in the number of our members and also in crofting activities and it is these crofting activities that have in general protected the environment we have here.

"This proposal is likely to give quite considerable financial benefit to the local community, and will help maintain the crofting community."

North, West and Central Sutherland councillor George Farlow said there was no reason to refuse the application on planning grounds. He said he had to go with the recommendation of planning officers.

Councillor Graeme Smith, Wick, felt that SNH's objection would have been reason enough to refuse it, and that is what he had been minded to do. But he had changed his mind as a result of the site visit. There were other parts of the A836 from which visitors could have an uninterrupted view of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope, he said.

Tain and Easter Ross councillor Richard Durham called for the guidelines on photo montages of wind farms to be changed.

He said he agreed with a suggestion made by Councillor Rowantree that negatives of wind turbine photos be given to committee members which they could then take with them on site visits and "fit" to the landscape in front of them.

Chairman and Thurso member Donald Mackay's motion to approve the application was seconded by East Sutherland and Edderton councillor Jim McGillivray and unanimously approved by members.

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