Windfarm gets thumbs down

DUMFRIES and Galloway Council’s planning committee has backed a recommendation to refuse a windfarm application in Galloway.

And it was music to the ears of the ‘Hands Off Our Hills’ protestors who gathered outside the council’s HQ yesterday morning to demonstrate against the proposal for the Glenvernoch Wind Farm from EnergieKontor.

Objectors say it is an industrial scale windfarm on virgin peat land at Glenvernoch in the Cree Valley.

The council’s planning officer had already recommended the project be dismissed and the councillors followed suit at Wednesday’s committee meeting.

Their decision will now be returned to the Scottish Government, who have the final say on the scheme.

Before the meeting, ‘Hands Off Our Hills’ member Donna Stewart said: “This application would scar one of the most valued landscapes in Dumfries and Galloway, undermine our tourism economy, and put our environment at risk.

“The refusal of Hill of Ochiltree on almost identical grounds shows why this site is unsuitable.

“If Glenvernoch were to be accepted, it would set a dangerous precedent that could open the door for further large-scale developments such as Blair Hill and Shennanton.

“Dumfries and Galloway’s own local development plan makes it absolutely clear that the Cree Valley is not suitable for turbines, and councillors must now uphold both policy and professional advice by rejecting this destructive proposal.”

Other protestors believe constructing the turbines would have a negative impact locally on tourism and could see small businesses destroyed in the process.

Also at the demo was Sian McKinnon, who said: “It is not helping our local communities,, it is destroying local businesses and livelihoods. There’s people here protesting who are fighting for their livelihoods.

“These are small businesses that people have put all their savings into and bring in money.

“Ordinary people can really only make money through tourism. If they put these turbines up, the tourists won’t come. They are destroying our communities.

“They are also expecting people in the countryside to solve all the problems we have. The Cree Valley is one of the most important sites for biodiversity, we can’t do both.

“We have deep peat and they are proposing to dig up deep peat which is the largest land-based carbon. So in order to get green energy they are going to dig up deep beat and unlock carbon, it just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s really important for the councillors to stand by us. I think the councillors do understand the dilemmas and that’s why the decisions about these big windfarms are being sent straight to central government because they do want to bypass local representatives because people who live and represent Dumfries and Galloway understand the complexity.

“I’m not against renewables but it’s about renewables in the right place.”