Skye councillor calls for 'pause' as windfarm inquiry starts
The Ben Aketil proposal at the centre of the inquiry, is for a current array of twelve turbines, each 120m high to be replaced by nine at 200m high. Objected to by the Highland Council, it is now being considered by the Scottish Government reporter in a local inquiry over five-days, at the Skye Camanachd Social Club in Portree.
Over the past two days, The Herald, has told the story of the build up to these hearings that are seeing Skye become the focus of a current debate over windfarm and electricity developments.
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A busy first morning was attended by so many community members and protestors that extra chairs had to be brought in.
Cllr Stewart explained his opposition to the development. 'Fundamentally, planning is about place and people and I don't think this application actually fits either. It's not in the interests of the people of Skye and it certainly doesn't protect the landscape.'
At the inquiry to speak on behalf of his constituents, he said, 'A lot of them have been really disillusioned with the planning process. They think their voices aren't heard. I'm there to try to speak up for them and it was good to see that there were so many people from the community this morning protesting outside the inquiry.
'With this application, and more broadly other developments within the community, they risk killing off our communities by overwhelming them with this industrial scale energy development.'
'The installation of 200m turbines and all the associated tracks and infrastructure, is entirely at odds with the character and identity of the north of Skye. Something that struck me was you're talking 200m is roughly the height of the observation deck in the Shard, which is one of the tallest buildings in western Europe. They would absolutely tower above everything else. They would be visible for miles in every direction.'
'One of the things that we hear in planning a lot is it's proportionate and sympathetic development. I can't say that this is. I think that Ben Aketil windfarm is a profound misjudgement because the scale of it is wrong and also the setting of it is wrong. It's not the right development in the right place, so it doesn't meet any of those two criteria.
Andrew Robinson of Skye Windfarm Information Group in front of Ben Aketil (Image: Vicky Allan) He also argued that it did not protect the naturally important landscape as is committed to in the planning policy around Scotland's national planning framework 4.
'It encroaches northwest Skye and Greshornish special landscape area, which is defined by its rugged terrain and remoteness. So it's completely out of keeping with that and breaks the letter and the spirit of that policy.
'These turbines may overwhelm the landscape. If you look at Skye, we're a predominantly tourist-based economy, which employs 2,800 people and brings in £200 million revenue each year. The tourists come to Skye to see the landscape. They don't come to see pylons, substations and turbines. I think we run a real risk of killing the goose that lays the proverbial golden egg.'
The inquiry comes in the wake, two weeks ago, of the Scottish Government's approval for the Skye overhead replacement line. It will hear submissions from legal representatives for Nadara, Highland Council and community groups.
It also follows the issuing, earlier this month of an open letter from over forty communities, led by the Skye Windfarm Information Group, calling for a moratorium on new renewables projects.
The Scottish government was approached for comment.
Responding to the Herald's Sunday article on the issue, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The Scottish Government has an ambition, as set out in our Onshore Wind Policy Statement, for 20GW of Onshore Wind by 2030 and we are working with the onshore wind industry to ensure that the delivery of this ambition supports our regional and national economies, communities and nature. The UK Government's Clean Power Action Plan respects the Scottish Government's onshore wind ambitions for 2030.'
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