An MSP has described a controversial application for a windfarm in one of the Highlands’ most picturesque areas as a “test case” for the Scottish Government.
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said approving or rejecting the Talladh-a-Bheithe windfarm – proposed for a site near Loch Rannoch – would determine whether SNP ministers were serious about protecting wild land from development.
Netherlands-based developer Eventus wants to erect 24 turbines up to 410ft high between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht. There have been about 1,000 objections to the scheme.
The John Muir Trust said the proposed site was in one of Scottish Natural Heritage’s newly identified Wild Land Areas and the project flew in the face of 2014 Scottish Government planning guidelines.
Speaking at Holyrood yesterday, Mr Fraser, a Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, said it would be a “tragedy” if the area was spoiled with an industrial development.
He said: “Today’s debate is not only important for the communities surrounding the proposed Talladh-a-Bheithe wind farm but for the 41 other areas across Scotland that are identified as wild land by Scottish Natural Heritage,” he added.
“Scotland’s wild places are a gift to everyone in this country and cannot be sacrificed for the sake of a few more megawatts of renewable energy.
“The Scottish Government talks tough on protecting wild land and this application represents their chance to prove it.”
Planning Minister Derek Mackay said he was unable to comment on a live planning application but each case was judged on its own merits.
The SNP MSP said guidelines to protect the environment from unsightly developments were in place and the government had rejected 194 out of 310 windfarm appeals since May 2007.
Rob Gibson, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, argued that windfarms helped support “fragile” communities.
“Should local people not benefit from the development of natural resources such as wind power and should they not have the benefit of a cash source that is constant?” he asked.
“Climate change, if unmitigated, could destroy the very scenery that some people talk about.
“The social economic issues that take into account the potential for a small community expanding, not dwindling, is something to be looked at very seriously.”