THE developers behind a controversial wind farm plan have withdrawn their application for consent to erect 17 turbines just a few miles from the Cairngorms National Park but insist they are committed to the pursuing a project on the site.
Edinburgh-based Eurowind UK said current investors had taken the decision on Nathro Hill Wind Farm near Brechin "after making their own assessment of the current planning climate".
In a statement the company said: "Eurowind UK's Board is obviously disappointed by this decision but takes heart from the fact that this decision will allow them more time to deepen and strengthen ongoing discussions with the local community over the community ownership element of the development.
"The Board fully expects to take the project forward at a later date with the offer of a comprehensive shared ownership package with the community."
The Ministry of Defence and RSPB Scotland had originally opposed the development but withdrew their objections following assurances from the developers. But the Mountaineering Council of Scotland MCofS maintained its opposition because of the location of the site in relation to Scotland's largest national park.
David Gibson, Chief Officer of the MCofS, said : "We welcome the news that the developer has withdrawn this ill-advised development. Given its proximity to the Cairngorms National Park it should never have been lodged in the first place and we would have opposed it at every stage."
Originally Eurowind had proposed a Community Benefit sum of £3,500 p/MW installed capacity, which would have earned the community around £200,000 annually.
But it decided to explore the alternative of allowing the local community itself to buy a share of the wind farm.
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