There was widespread dismay at the news in January of the proposal for Inverchaolain Windfarm, which would bring 13 gigantic 200m high turbines to the Black Craig Ridge just south-west of Dunoon’s Bishop’s Seat.  The Inverchaolain site is adjacent to the Giant’s Burn Windfarm site with its proposed 9 equally-giant turbines, so there would be 22 monster turbines grouped together on the hills above Dunoon.  This would truly become the March of the Giants, making the destruction of our scenic and physical environment much greater and affecting more people over a much wider area. 

The visual impact of the proposed Inverchaolain Windfarm alone, particularly for views from Bute northwards, would be severe, and because the site is so high (500m) these turbines would be highly visible also from the Inverclyde/North Ayrshire coast, the Shore villages of Kilmun and Strone, Kilcreggan, and all the Upper Clyde ferry routes. The site’s proximity to the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area (NSA) is particularly significant in this respect.  Together with the close proximity of the Giant’s Burn site to the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, the combined windfarms’ 22 turbines would make a mockery of the established history of this area as a “Gateway to the National Park”.

Make no mistake: if the Giant’s Burn proposal were to be approved, it is virtually certain that the Inverchaolain proposal would as well.  There could well be even more than 22 turbines, as both windfarm sites include sufficient land for additional installations; it has become an all too frequent occurrence in Scotland for developers to start with a modest proposal and then add additional turbines once initial approval is gained. 

We now face “Double Danger” as the combined phalanx of 22 (or more) turbines would have a devastating impact, not only on the scenic and visual environment but also on the physical environment (damage to upland peat moors and their ecology) and biodiversity, running counter to the goals of the Scottish Government in relation to climate change. There would be huge damage to the vital tourist economy of the area, as well as to the local economy more generally – depressing house values and deterring in-migration; health concerns for near-by residents would be more widespread and affect more people.  

The extraordinary thing about these two windfarm proposals is that previous proposals have been made for similar sites in Cowal – and have been rejected after extensive examination by official bodies.  In 2010 the proposal for the Strone Saul Windfarm, now the site of the Giant’s Burn Windfarm, was refused. In 2009 the Black Craig Windfarm proposal (on the site of the Inverchaolain proposal) was refused at a very thorough Public Local Inquiry. The government Reporter recommended that permission should be denied because of the “significant detrimental landscape and visual impact” of the proposed 100m high turbines; that recommendation was upheld by the Government.  What is the logic of entertaining a new proposal for that site, this time for turbines twice as high as those rejected in 2009? 

Points raised at that Inquiry still stand today, but with even more force considering the doubling of the size and number of the proposed turbines.

• The proposed site would be visible from the eastern approaches to the world famous Kyles of Bute NSA, and from various points within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. The site would be highly visible in the main outlooks north from Bute, most notably over Rothesay Bay.

• Giant wind turbines are totally inappropriate and highly intrusive in high quality landscapes or scenic areas. The Wind Capacity Study (2017) commissioned by Argyll & Bute Council clearly stated that ‘there is no scope for wind turbines > 150m to be accommodated in Argyll and Bute. This is principally due to the limited extent of less sensitive upland areas and the effect of much larger turbines on surrounding smaller scale and/or diverse landscapes’. The two proposed windfarms are on high ground, exacerbating their visual impact over a wide area, and in most cases breaking skylines.  The NatureScot Guidance for Siting and Designing Wind Farms in the Landscape (2017) states in Section 3.29 that “Narrow bands of uplands between settled and smaller-scale valleys should be avoided, if a windfarm on the hills would dominate the landscape on both sides”, as is indeed the case for the proposed Giant’s Burn and Inverchaolain Windfarms.

• Tourism in Bute & Cowal depends directly on the appeal of our high-quality landscapes, seascapes, and scenery. With Dunoon being designated the Marine Gateway to the National Park, such development is not only inappropriate but will unquestionably have a depressing effect on the tourism which is a mainstay of the local economy. 

What has changed to warrant even considering making such proposals again?  When Save Cowal’s Hills posed this very question to Statkraft, at a public meeting in Dunoon, the response was a vague reference to the new National Planning Framework (NPF4). A more accurate answer is simple: NOTHING has changed which would justify reversing earlier decisions to reject.

Many statements from developers would have the public believe that the thrust of modern policy, as articulated in NPF4, is unreservedly supportive of all renewables no matter where they are sited.  That is not correct.  While the general thrust of policy is favourable to renewable, low carbon and zero emissions technologies, that is carefully qualified in para. 11e) by a set of 13 criteria to be considered; these include:

• impacts on communities and individual residences (residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker)
• significant landscape and visual impacts are recognised but not accepted as not a barrier to development if they are purely localised
• biodiversity and impact on birds
• impact on woods, forests and trees
• effects on the water environment.

In fact, biodiversity is a key tenet of NPF4, with clear recognition that Scotland is experiencing a nature emergency as much as a climate emergency. Multiple governmental and NGO reports note that the UK as a whole and Scotland in particular, are among the most nature-depleted countries on earth, with the latter ranked 212th out of 240 for quality of nature. This is high quality wet heath, peat habitat which would start to be eroded by any development here, starting the release of locked-up carbon by oxidation of exposed and drying peat (along with release of locked-up methane) into the atmosphere. The opinion of a local and esteemed ecologist Dr Neil Hammatt is that “this area should be/have been designated as a Scottish Nature Conservation Site on the local development plan, and added to Scotland’s “30 by 30” protected land inventory”.

People worried about this Double Windfarm Danger are urged to urgently contact their community councils, Argyll & Bute Councillors, MSPs and others to make their concerns known.  For more information please follow the Save Cowal’s Hills FaceBook page and/or contact us by email on savecowalshills@yahoo.com to receive updates.