The people of Rannoch have launched a ‘Keep Rannoch Wild’ campaign to resist plans for a windfarm on a key area of Scotland’s newly officially-identified wild land.
Many of the population are already supporting Keep Rannoch Wild and the number is growing all the time – so too is the number of formal objections lodged against the Talladh a Bheithe wind farm scheme.
Campaigners will work with the John Muir Trust, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and alongside local estates and others in fighting to preserve the wild lands which make this area special.
Douglas Wynn, a spokesman for Keep Rannoch Wild, said: “This scheme is simply an attempt to make huge private profits by creating an ugly industrial development on lands in the Perthshire Highlands that are renowned as a wild and beautiful place for people and nature.
“We have been delighted by the strength of local feeling against the wind farm and the determination of most residents, businesses and estates to protect Rannoch as one of Scotland’s great unspoiled places.
“Keep Rannoch Wild is calling on Perth and Kinross councillors to join us in opposing this scheme and to press Scottish Ministers to make sure it is rejected.”
The proposed site on Talladh a Bheithe Estate lies between the remote Ben Alder group of hills to the north and Schiehallion and Cross Crags to the south, all frequented by eagles and many species of protected birds.
The scheme is would be against the Scottish Government’s new planning guidance. This promises ‘significant protection’ for much of Scotland’s wild land, including the area of the proposed wind farm. It also seeks a complete ban on wind farm developments in National Scenic Areas.
The Talladh a Bheithe application, lodged the same day the new guidance was published, proposes:
· 24 huge wind turbines, each 410ft tall, in wild and empty land
· bulldozing and widening the access track through the Tay Forest National Scenic Area
· bulldozing a new network of service tracks at the site
· constructing a series of assorted buildings
Planning policy requires a balance to be struck between the Scottish Government’s policies to extend renewable energy and the loss and damage that might impose on valued landscapes and habitats.
Mr Wynn said: “This is an area recognised for its wild land qualities and habitat value for several protected species. We believe that the loss and damage to this irreplaceable landscape makes this ‘a site too far’. We will work with like-minded allies to demonstrate that this project is much too damaging to be allowed.”
While the local community and businesses have found it necessary to liaise with the developers, as they would with any major proposal affecting the area, many appear to have become increasingly opposed to this wind farm the more they learn.
Link: Keep Rannoch Wild
Link: MCofS campaign page – how you can help