Decision day for energy park mast

PLANS for a meteorological mast in Wigtownshire will go before councillors next week.

The proposal for the 90-metre tall temporary mast has been put forward by Wind2, to be within the intended site of the Lairdmannoch Energy Park, seven kilometres north-east of Gatehouse.

If approved, it would be in place for five years to allow for the collection of meteorological data to inform the consideration of potential development of a windfarm on the site.

However, the application has been met with apprehension from some residents in Twynholm, Glengap and Castle Douglas, with 13 people submitting their objections to Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Among those who submitted objects were the Help Save Mochrum Fell group. They wrote: “The mast is not a neutral or incidental structure. It forms an integral part of the Lairdmannoch Energy Park proposal, which is currently in formal consultation and has already attracted significant public opposition, with over 1000 objections submitted ahead of the objection deadline of in February. As such, the mast cannot reasonably be treated as an isolated development divorced from the wider proposal.

“While described as a temporary monitoring installation, the mast represents a clear step in advancing the energy park application by gathering site specific data to support turbine scale, layout, and commercial justification. Allowing this infrastructure to proceed during the consultation period risks undermining the openness and fairness of that process by enabling on site development activity before the proposal has been fully examined and public representations properly considered.”

A decision on the mast will be made by members of the planning committee at their meeting in Dumfries next Thursday.