Community leaders in North Harris are furious that a plan for three wind turbines that would earn £150,000 a year for local investment is to be delayed by a public inquiry.
The inquiry could recommend ministers refuse permission for the 2.5-megawatt development, despite having been approved by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council). Crucially, it is opposed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) because the turbines would be on part of a national scenic area.
The proposal comes from a subsidiary of North Harris Trust, the community-led body involved in the buyout of the 55,000-acre North Harris estate in 2003.
Trust chairman Calum Mackay said yesterday the success of this project was critical to the sustainability of the community.
"Apart from providing the equivalent of enough clean energy to power all of Harris, the derived income over 20 years would enable the trust to become sustainable and financially independent," he said An SNH spokesman said planning applications must take account of natural heritage issues: "While there may be frustrations locally, SNH, as a statutory consultee, is asked for advice on natural heritage issues as part of the planning process. At no point does it make decisions on planning cases."
Angus Campbell, vice-convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said: "If the executive cannot reach a decision on this without going to an inquiry then what future is there for windfarms in the Western Isles, whether they be small, community owned proposals or larger commercial operations?
"It is also disappointing that the views of the Comhairle have been rejected."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article