A HISTORIC battle site will be turned into a solar energy farm after council planners gave the go-ahead to the controversial proposals.
The decision, which will see the facility build in the Kilsyth Hills, was made despite objections from the local community council, the local authority's own archaeological service and its landscape wing.
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The site includes the land where around 4,500 men are thought to have lost their lives during the Battle of Kilsyth between a Covenanter army and royalists on August 15, 1645.
The new farm will feature 50,295 solar panels over more than 67 acres of farmland, surrounded by fences measuring more than six feet high and CCTV posts.
Cumbernauld councillor and retired history teacher Tom Johnston was the only member of the committee to oppose the move.
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He said: “The victor of Kilsyth, the Marquis of Montrose was one of Scotland’s greatest generals.
“His tactics have been studied in military academies worldwide and some two dozen books have been written about him.
“It is my view that in one 30-minute planning hearing, the committee has trashed the battlefield of Kilsyth and destroyed the rural and scenic value of the Kilsyth Hills.”
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The SNP politician said that the wider process saw a number of objections submitted, including from within the council itself.
He said: “Kilsyth Community Council submitted an objection on the grounds of visual intrusion across the hills.
“The planning department itself objected, the council’s Archaeological service and North Lanarkshire Council Landscape all objected.
“The proposal is against the council’s local plan and even Cumbernauld Airport objected.
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“And once the current rural character of the area is undermined by more solar farms, the council’s policy of keeping wind farms away from the southern Kilsyth Hills will be undermined.
“We have 150 miles of suitable south facing slopes in the Ochils, the Campsies and Kilpatrick Hills so why use these hills?"
However, Kilsyth councillor Heather McVey moved the motion to grant the plan, which also had the backing of Kilsyth’s other councillors, Jean Jones and Alan Stevenson.
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Ms McVey said that the development would be of great benefit to the town, not least because the project will create six permanent jobs as well as 30 jobs at the construction stage.
She said: “We have the opportunity to have the first non-subsidised panels connecting locally to the UK grid.
“It’s a new opportunity for green energy and we need to explore alternatives to our reliance on fossil fuels."
She added: “I appreciate concerns about the location of the site.
“So we articulated the need for conditions for archaeological protection and visual screening.”
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