Campaign group's joy at Scottish Government decision to reject plans for Kintradwell wind farm near Brora
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A group campaigning against a wind farm amidst fears it would "overshadow" Brora has expressed their delight after a Scottish Government decision to reject plans for the development.
Loth Residents said they were pleased at the outcome, having campaigned against the 15-turbine Kintradwell Estate development for over 2 years, citing concerns over its visual impact on the Sutherland landscape.
Renewable energy company RES Group first applied to the Scottish Government for consent to build the wind farm on a moorland site at Kintradwell Estate just north of Brora back in February 2021.
But following a near two-and-a-half-year process, plans for the development have now been rejected.
A spokesperson for Loth Residents said: "We are pleased that the decision of the Scottish Government is to refuse consent for the proposed wind farm at Kintradwell.
"The decision by the Scottish Government makes it clear that they do not consider the landscape of the Special Landscape Area (SLA) to be a suitable location for a wind farm, reinforcing their earlier decision to refuse the neighbouring West Garty wind farm, within the same SLA, in 2018."
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- Loth Residents launch funding appeal to meet costs of arguing case against planned Kintradwell Wind Farm at Brora public inquiry in November
- Highland Council to raise objection to Kintradwell Wind Farm amid concern over its visual impact on landscape
- Protest grows over Kintradwell Wind Farm
The news has come as a significant relief to Loth Residents, who launched a fundraising drive last year in a bid to raise £6000 to pay for help from experts to present their case at a public inquiry in Brora last November.
The group claimed the turbines would overlook Brora from the north west and would also be clearly visible from the A9 and from coastal areas such as Embo, Dornoch and Portmahomack.
The public inquiry into the development was called after Highland Council lodged their objection to the proposal during the autumn of 2021, echoing concerns over the development's visual impact on landscape.
The local authority had received a total of 208 objections to the development with just 38 representations of support.
Meanwhile, the Energy Consents Unit had received 239 objections with only 17 in support.
But the development, which had a proposed height for its turbines of 149.9m to blade tip, required final consent from the government as opposed to Highland Council under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 – because the installed capacity of the wind farm would be in excess of 50 megawatts.
In a letter confirming their decision, the Scottish Government stated that "the proposed development would create significant adverse landscape and visual effects which cannot be mitigated" and that these factors would "outweigh any benefits that would be derived from it."
Developer RES criticised the decision and expressed their disappointment that potentially "valuable" local jobs and a projected economic benefit in the local area would now be lost.
Charmaine O’Donnell, Senior Project Manager for RES, commented: “This is a huge disappointment, not only for RES but also the local supply chain that we’ve built such a good relationship with during the project's development.
"Our partnership with Brora-based contractor Edward Mackay, giving them right of first refusal on the civil construction work, would have helped secure valuable local jobs and employment opportunities in the local area.
"Additionally, Kintradwell was predicted to deliver around £4 million of economic benefit to the local area in the form of jobs, employment and use of local services during construction.”
