25 February 2012
Windfarms -A Personal View
A Personal View on the Application for 11 Wind Turbines affecting Glen Lonan, Taynuilt, Bonawe, North Connel, Loch Feochan and others.
This piece was submitted by a resident of Glen Lonan.
********
Believe it or not Argyll and Bute have Planning Policies for the
development and siting of Wind Farms they are:
LP REN1 Wind Farms and Wind Turbines.
For all commercial wind farms, regardless of scale, the issues raised by the
following must be satisfactorily addressed:
A
• Areas and interests of nature conservation significance including
local biodiversity,ecology and the water environment.
• Landscape and townscape character, scenic quality and visual and
general amenity.
• Core paths, rights of way;or other important access routes.
• Sites of historic or archaeological interest and their settings.
• Telecommunication, transmitting and receiving systems.
• Important tourist facilities, attractions or routes.
• Stability of peat deposits.
B
The policy goes on to define areas where wind farms of over 20MW could
be considered as :
• Broad Areas of Search within which proposals will be generally
supported.
• Protected Areas where proposals will be generally resisted
• Potentially Constrained Areas where proposals must take into
account the criteria identified in A
Policy STRAT DC9 states:
Protection, conservation, enhancement and positive management of
the historic environment is promoted. Development that undermines
or damages the historic,architectural or cultural qualities of the historic
environment will be resisted; particularly if it would affect a Scheduled
Ancient Monument or its setting -
Lorn Local Plan POL RUR1
The Council will resist – prominent or sporadic development which would
have an adverse effect on-
d: areas of local landscape significance
iii) Loch Nell
iv) Glen Lonan
That all appears quite clear, wind farms should not be sited where they
affect:
• landscape character, visual and general amenity
• important access routes
• sites of historic or archaeological interest and their settings
• important tourist facilities
moreover the Council will resist:
• applications which damage the setting of Scheduled Historic
Monuments or their settings.
• Prominent or sporadic development which would have an adverse
affect on areas of local landscape significance in particular Loch
Nell and Glen Lonan.
Now!
• Glen Lonan is one of the great glens of Scotland (Scotland the
Best)
• Cycle Route 78 down Glen Lonan is described as one of the
six best short distance family cycle routes in the country (Best
Cycling in Scotland),it is 8 miles of single track unfenced road.
• Glen Lonan has 14 Scheduled Ancient Monuments and
18 unscheduled Ancient Monuments. It is of considerable
archaeological and historical significance, a communication
route and important ritual landscape since Neolithic times. It
was the Royal medieval pilgrimage and coffin route and the
valley floor along its length is rich in archaeology: stone circles,
passage graves, burial cairns and important megaliths( Royal
Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Scotland).
•
Many protected species of birds have been regularly recorded
in the area (Wind Prospect)
•
Fearnoch Forest is a Special Area of Conservation
•
Glen Lonan is a Potentially Constrained Area
How can an application for a wind farm, with 11 massive
turbines each one 121 metres high ( 394 feet), which will
dominate this unique landscape and be visible from 20 miles
away, be considered ?
3
Each turbine will be twice the height of McCaig's folly above George
Street
Each plinth on which a turbine stands will contain 50 tons of concrete
The access roads through Fearnoch Forest and up to the site overlooking
Loch Nell and Glen Lonan will require tens of thousands of tons of stone.
Each turbine blade is over 40 metres long and will require transporting
along the A85 and then through Fearnoch.
Glen Lonan will be the service road – single track and unfenced - for scores
of vehicles daily.( This has been admitted by the developers who have
suggested temporary traffic lights and police convoys down the Glen)
This development will be the equivalent of 11 forty story high-rise
buildings on the skyline it will require miles of service roads, plant rooms,
substations, bridges.
If this application is approved it is highly likely that it will be followed by
another application to increase the numbers of turbines.
The planning application does not include the transmission cables to the
National Grid, the developers will not be drawn on this because it is not up
to them. It will almost certainly require another march of pylons down Glen
Lonan.
We cannot allow our heritage to be sacrificed in order to line the pockets of
the landowners, the developers and ultimately EDF of France.
We urge you to make your views known and to help prevent this
happening . You can do this in one of two easy ways.
On line: Google: Argyll and Bute Planning, then go to “Planning and the
Environment”. Click “Find and Comment on a planning application” drop
down to “simple search” and then in the box enter the planning reference
number which is 11/02553/PP. You are then asked if you want to make a
comment ,click the box and you are there! Do it now!
Or Write to: Richard Kerr, Planning Officer, Lorn House, Albany Street,
Oban PA34 4AR quoting the reference number 11/02553/PP
