Wind farm developers and power companies are on the verge of completely strangling a celebrated area of Highland beauty, according to the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, which represents Scotland’s mountaineers and hillwalkers.
“The Scottish Government has now given permission to so many huge commercial developments in the Monadhliath Mountains that the quality of their landscape and value as a destination for walkers, climbers and other visitors will be destroyed.”
If consented by the Highland Council, Coriolis Energy’s recent application for the Dell wind farm at Whitebridge would place a further 13 turbines along the western side of the Monadhliath.
Together with existing consents, the development would mean that turbines will stretch for 50km – from north of the A9 to the Corrieyairack Pass – where it will rare to be more than 5km from a wind farm and their unsightly service roads.
While the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) says these developments already herald the ruin of the western Monadhliath as a mountain resource, there is a ray of hope at the east where a decision is still awaited on the Allt Duine wind farm application.
Allt Duine hills – © Chris Townsend
“The Scottish Government has recently been claiming that it is a champion of the natural environment which it regards as a ‘valued national asset’*, while simultaneously giving permission for a whole string of industrial scale developments that will wreck the character of a fabulous area of the highlands.
“The extent of the damage will become clear over the next few years as the massed ranks of turbines which have been given the go ahead are built and overwhelm the wild lands which have been valued for so long for their remoteness, wildlife and beauty.
“The local economies in these areas depend heavily on those who go there to walk, climb or relax in open countryside, but this is all at risk as visitors will go elsewhere.
“For the west of the Monadhliath it is already too late, politicians have allowed money and powerful corporate interests to triumph over the Scottish people and their natural heritage.
“To the east there is one final chance for Scottish Government Ministers to save a fragment of this area by rejecting the proposals for the massive Allt Duine wind farm which threatens the Cairngorms National Park.
“That is the choice facing John Swinney MSP right now – it’s his decision whether Allt Duine proceeds or not – and this is his opportunity to live up to Scottish Government claims that it wishes to protect national parks – let’s hope it isn’t squandered.”
The MCofS has objected to around one in twenty wind farm applications – those which threaten Scotland’s mountains and rapidly dwindling wild lands. It does not tend to object where these would not be harmed or where the destruction is already overwhelming.
The MCofS also campaigns to prevent unsightly and unnecessary tracks being cut through the landscape and has just filed an objection to a heavy lorry access track for the proposed Dell Wind Farm.
Mr Gibson said: “Whilst Dell wind farm would add to the destruction of the Monadhliath, the proposed access track is a substantial engineering work in its own right and would create a major scar on the hills. Our objection is because the track is completely unnecessary as the nearby Stronelairg Wind Farm will have a suitable track that could be shared if there was a 500m spur to connect the two. We are calling on the Highland Council to reject the application for the track on this basis.”
Shared facilities are not uncommon in industrial developments and it should be feasible for the two wind farm developers to reach agreement, with appropriate cost-sharing.