The result of a ballot to decide if a controversial community scale windfarm should be given the go-ahead in a Black Isle forest will be revealed tomorrow.
The vote closed at noon today and counting started this morning at the electoral reform offices in England. The result will be announced by Highland Council’s returning officer later this afternoon.
The 6.9MW capacity scheme proposed by Black Isle Community Energy (Bice) would have three 328ft towers in Millbuie Forest near Mount Eagle, if successful.
A Yes vote in the ballot won’t necessarily lead to turbines being erected because the planning application would still have to be processed.
Campaign group No Black Isle Windfarm (NBIW) first raised concerns about Bice’s predicted £500,000 annual income from the scheme, claiming it was “wrong” because it was based on overestimated wind speed estimates.
The group also raised concerns about the scheme’s impact on nearby red kite, osprey, capercaillie, Scottish wildcat and pine marten populations.
Bice maintain that the predicted financial benefit is a realistic figure and that claims about the impact on species are premature. They argue that the best way to know more about the impact is to take the project forward and conduct surveys.
More recently, a row erupted over the ballot itself when voting papers were sent out that also contained background information on the proposal.
NBIW claims that the leaflet contained unbalanced information which could have swayed opinion and is angry this happened when £150,000 of public money is set to be loaned by the Scottish Government’s CARES Scheme to take proposals forward in the event of a Yes vote.
Bice in turn claimed that the correct process was followed for producing the ballot – in that it has been assessed by Forestry Commission Scotland, local community councils and Highland Council’s returning officer.
Under the National Forest Land Scheme, the applicant is able to take control of the ballot but any information included has an obligation to be balanced.