The company's announcement, which came via an e-mail to community leaders on Wednesday, looks set to spark off another monumental row. The two communities have previously made their strong opposition to the A9 option crystal clear.

Campaigner Valerie Scott of Main Street, Golspie, has now accused SSE of breaking a written promise that the trunk road would not be used.

Golspie residents, in particular, are concerned over the effect of abnormal loads rumbling through the village. Main Street householders have already claimed heavy traffic is damaging their properties.

And Brora residents are worried about lorries negotiating the narrow Brora bridge and turning at the north end of the village onto the single-track Clynelish Distillery road.

There is also concern about the fragile and scenically beautiful, single-track C6 Strath Brora route.

The wind farm site is to be accessed from a hill track at Ascoile, around eight miles down the Strath Brora route.

East Sutherland and Edderton ward councillors have said they will be seeking urgent talks with SSE.

Work on the £90m Gordonbush wind farm, to be built on land belonging to the Tyser family, is scheduled to start in the Spring, SSE have stated.

Gordonbush Construction Manager, Rod Crawford, claimed that the costs of using the Kilbraur route, which involves extending the hill road and building a bridge over the River Brora, were too high.

He also maintained agreements to use the route would not be finalised before the wind farm start date.

In the e-mail, he stated: "It has become apparent that the additional costs of delivering this alternative to the consented Strath Brora route are significantly higher than estimated, to the point where they are simply not feasible.

"In addition, the delay required to construct the bridge, finalise land negotiations and carry out other improvements to the Kilbraur route will take much longer than we had originally hoped.

"The project programme for Gordonbush dictates that civil works on site require to start in the early Spring 2010.

"We've now reached the point where we need to enter legal agreements to the use of the Strath Brora route with Highland Council in order to be able to begin work on site and keep to the timetable agreed for connecting the wind farm to the grid.

"Therefore we have informed the council that we intend to use the Strath Brora route for construction traffic to the site."

SSE's Major Projects Liaison Manager, Ruth Liddicoat, said it was not the message the company had hoped to deliver.

"The driver is our grid connection date and we need to start construction work within the next couple of months to meet that," she said.

"But in addition to that we've reached the conclusion that the Kilbraur route is just not feasible due to the time it will take to deliver and the cost. The bridge itself is a major construction.

"We've really put in a lot of time and undertaken a lot of work as well as investing a lot of money into looking at delivering that route and we are disappointed it is not feasible. The bridge itself is a major construction."

SSE now hopes to set up a community liaison group to keep local people informed about the project.

"There are lots of ways we can work with the communities to minimise the impact from the construction stage," said Ms Liddicoat.

East Sutherland and Edderton ward councillor Ian Ross said he was very disappointed at SSE's decision and felt that a crucial opportunity had been lost.

"SSE is well aware of the very real concerns which exist in Golspie and Brora and the undoubted impact and disruption this access route selection will cause," he said.

"A great deal of work has been done in developing the Kilbraur extension option to the Gordonbush wind farm site and community expectations have been raised only to be apparently dashed.

"I will be writing to SSE to ask for a reconsideration of this decision - SSE as the North of Scotland Hydro Board had a proud history of working with and supporting Highland communities and this is a poor reflection of this legacy.

"I have consistently said I would only believe the Kilbraur access option to Gordonbush would happen when the construction of the road extension and bridge had started - my lack of confidence would seem to have been justified.

"I can only contrast this with the way Falck Renewables sought to work with the local communities to limit and remove the impact of the wind farm construction phase at Kilbraur."

Fellow ward councillor Deirdre Mackay commented: "Obviously we are bitterly disappointed to learn that SSE are to use the A9 route. It is the response that the communities feared and one which villages find completely unacceptable."

Golspie Community Council chairman Iain Miller said: "SSE is a company that has portrayed itself as having their routes in the Highlands through Hydro Electric. They have given a very good impression of working with us but, coming close to the twelfth hour, they have gone back on their commitment to the community.

"In a way maybe we were spoilt by Falck Renewables, in that they were open and transparent."

And Valerie Scott, who has been active in mounting a campaign against the use of the A9, claims: "We have it in writing that they would not come through the village. A company that can break a promise given to the whole community and who can even think of bringing that sort of traffic through two villages is totally ill-mannered and discourteous.

"They have totally ignored local opinion and simply could not care less. They're getting heavy subsidies and it's our money, but they just don't care. To then hand out a paltry community benefit with all this going on is an insult."

She added: "We cannot have them coming through and I shall have to get my army together to sit on the road as we threatened before!"

The issue was also discussed by Brora Community Council at its meeting on Tuesday evening. Community councillor Robin Ward said: "Many months ago someone drilled holes in the Moss Road in Strath Brora. They were taking a cross section of the road to see what the foundation was like. Someone has been planning heavy lorries going up there six months ago."

George McBeath commented: "We're not being asked what we feel about this - we are being told what is going to happen."

Fellow community councillor Bruce Kinnear commented: "It has always been maintained that there is no more weight on the actual road because of the way the weight is distributed over the axles. There is no more damage to the road by a large lorry than a smaller one."

carolinem@northern-times.co.uk

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