Windfarm shock for the Stewartry as turbine numbers go public

Six of the 100 turbines planned for the border area between Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire will be in the Stewartry. AMEC, the international project management and services company, has submitted plans for a wind farm in East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, The development, one of the biggest ever in Scotland, will have 100 turbines and an installed capacity of around 300 MW, sufficient to supply clean green energy equivalent to the domestic requirements of approximately 8 per cent of Scotland’s population. But already it has brought a strong reaction from Dalmellington Community Council and Scottish Wind Watch, the environmental campaign group has warned of growing opposition. Dr Brendan Hamill, SWW convener, said the plan was one of half a dozen proposed for the area and he added: “If they go ahead it will look like wind-farm alley.”

The site is located near to the town of Dalmellington and includes parts of the Kyle and Carsphairn forests. The development has been designed to work alongside existing commercial forestry and opencast coal mining operations within the forest. The 8,000 hectare site has no special conservation or landscape status and sits within an area identified by Scottish Natural Heritage as suitable for wind farm development. As a consequence of the development, a habitat management plan will be put in place with substantial ecological benefits for habitats such as blanket bog and a range of species including black grouse. Sylvia Sinclair of Carnavel, Carsphairn, who is chairman of Carsphairn Community Council, said yesterday that she had received notification that six of the planned turbines would be on the Dumfries and Galloway side of the boundary and that a public meeting is to be held at Dalmellington on November 17.

“The meeting is open to the public and it is up to them to go along,” she said and added that buses had been provided for earlier consultations and there had been adverts in the papers and posters distributed. Mrs Sinclair said the community council had to remain impartial but they would take on board any objections which were raised. “We have to take a balanced view but whether you are for or against windfarms, if they are going to happen and planning gets the go ahead, you have to be prepared for it. You must negotiate the setting up as big a community fund before the planning actually gets the go ahead.” Initial public exhibitions took place in November 2003 and AMEC has since held a further round of public exhibitions in addition to informal open days to discuss the proposal. Environmental studies and investigations at the outset indicated that a wind farm consisting of up to 150 turbines could be developed on the site. However, this number reduced to 100 turbines following environmental assessments, carried out by independent experts, and comments from the community.