The Save Monadhliath Mountains (SMM) campaign is calling on the Government to maintain policy consistency when deciding the fate of the 31-turbine Allt Duine wind farm in the Monadhliath Mountains after the recent decision by the Scottish Government to reject the Glenkirk application on both wild land grounds and on the basis of the significant adverse effects on the Cairngorms National Park (CNP or the Park).
Just a few days after the Allt Duine public local inquiry report was passed by the Reporter to the Energy Consents and Deployment Unit for civil servants to consider and deliver a recommendation to ministers, Chris Townsend, the spokesman for the SMM campaign, issued a written plea to the Energy and Tourism Minister, Fergus Ewing MSP, saying: “The many supporters of the SMM campaign have always said that the Allt Duine proposal to erect 31 125 metre high turbines hundreds of metres from the boundary of the Park is simply a step too far.”
In the letter to the Minister, Chris Townsend points to the significant impact on both the landscape character and fabric of the Park, highlighting:
· the cumulative impact of the proposal i.e. the gradual encirclement of the north-west boundary of the CNP.
· the edge of the proposed Allt Duine site lies 400m from the CNP boundary and the first turbine just 900m.
· the proposed construction of 7.5km of access road will have a significant effect on the landscape fabric of the Park, with the enlargement of existing tracks and brand new roads cut into the mountain side. These tracks will be 5m wide, with greater width (nearer 15m), at the turns as they switchback their way up the steep slopes inside the Park. The site reception and temporary construction compound will also lie within the boundary of the CNP.
· the scheme being visible from about 100 square miles of the CNP, including iconic high points like the Ptarmigan Restaurant and popular munros within the Park such as Ben Macdui, Cairn Gorm and Braeriach.
· whilst renewable energy targets are a national priority, so are national parks and wild land. In June 2012, Scottish ministers signed up to the Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan. In the foreword to the Plan, Stewart Stevenson MSP, the then Minister for Environment and Climate Change, clearly stated the Government’s commitment to ‘ensuring that the Park’s stunning landscapes and special qualities are conserved and enhanced for future generations’
Chris Townsend also draws the Minister’s attention to the ongoing consultation into the revised Scottish Planning Policy, the NPF3 MIR and the SNH 2013 Core Wild Land Areas and to the fact that the key driver of the SMM campaign sits neatly with the Government’s aspirations to protect beautiful areas of wild land. Cross-referencing the Core Wild Land Areas Map with the proposed Allt Duine wind farm application site, he points to the fact that, if granted, the 31 turbines will lie wholly within the proposed Monadhliath Core Wild Land area.
Chris Townsend added: “If a consistent process is applied, there can only be one conclusion – refusal of the Allt Duine wind farm application. The decision is crucial for the protection of the Park and the national scenic area for future generations.”
SMM – a broad based coalition with the singular objective of protecting the Monadhliath Mountains and the CNP – believe that granting RWE Npower Renewable Ltd permission to build the 31 turbine wind farm will set a precedent that will result in a future landscape where the national importance of wild land and natural beauty is usurped by power station infrastructure and renewable energy targets.