Public inquiry this week will hear directly from local residents as to how controversial Strath Oykel Wind Farm will affect them
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Residents in the Rosehall area are being given an opportunity to read out statements at a public inquiry next week as to how the planned Strath Oykel Wind Farm will affect them.
Opponents to the contentious wind farm say the move is a welcome one after local people were denied a request to have their say when a Scottish Government reporter visited the area following an appeal against planning refusal of the 40mw Meall Buidhe Wind Farm, which was subsequently given the go-ahead.
The Strath Oykel Wind Farm public inquiry opens at Rosehall Village Hall tomorrow.
Energiekontor UK are seeking to erect an 11-turbine, 73mw wind farm on the sky line above Rosehall, Altass and Brae. At 200m high, the turbines would be amongst the tallest in Scotland.
The development has been fiercely opposed by residents of the three communities and also by local wind farm campaign group No Ring of Steel (NORoS).
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Wind farms above a threshold of 50mw are decided by the Scottish Government rather than local councils, who are statutory consultees.
Members of the North Planning Applications Committee agreed at a meeting in 2022 to raise an objection to the development on the grounds of its likely individual and cumulative impact on the landscape and visual amenity. Highland Council planners had recommended that the wind farm be approved.
Councillors stuck to their decision when asked to reconsider it earlier this year following the introduction of the new planning policy, National Planning Framework 4.
An objection by the local authority automatically triggers a public inquiry.
The Strath Oykel Wind Farm inquiry opens on Tuesday and will last for three days. It is open to the public.
A spokesperson for NORoS said: “It has been a long and costly battle for members of our local community both in the amount of time and money everyone has had to put into this fight.”
A new concern for local people is a map of the proposed turbine route which had recently come to light and shows the route cutting through residents’ gardens and animal paddocks.
Also included is the building of a new crossing over the River Oykel close to the existing Bailey bridge. It is feared the construction of the bridge will affect the river habitat.
The inquiry opens at 10am tomorrow (Tuesday, October 24) and at 9.30am on subsequent days. Sessions are expected to finish between 4.30pm and 5pm.The community hearing session is on Thursday from 4.30pm and is expected to last until 7.30pm.
