ALLOWING a wind farm to be built beside the UK’s biggest national park would be like “building a Tesco in the Grand Canyon”, a leading conservationist has warned.
• Cairngorms is largest area of mountain landscape in UK
• Concerns raised over proposals to build 31-turbine wind farm adjacent to park
• Public inquiry into Allt Duine windfarm to start next week
Chris Townsend, author, photographer and former President of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, voiced growing concerns over plans to construct a 31-turbine wind farm next to the Cairngorms National Park.
A public inquiry into the Allt Duine development is due to start on Monday after German energy firm RWE npower appealed a decision earlier this year by Highland Council to reject the scheme.
Campaigners fear that if the original ruling is overturned it will pave the way for a host of other wind farms also being planned around the park.
Mr Townsend, who will give evidence at the inquiry, said: “This scheme is one of eleven wind farms planned for construction near or on the edge of the national park. If RWE are granted permission, the repercussions for wild land and the Scottish landscape in general will be devastating........Once we have a wind farm on the boundary of a national park, what next? This is the equivalent of building a Tesco in the Grand Canyon – you just wouldn’t dream of it!”
The controversial Allt Duine wind farm proposal is located just 400 metres from the park boundary and would see 7.5km of new access tracks and cabling constructed within the park itself.
Opposition
It would generate electricity for around 52,000 homes, but was rejected by the council amidst widespread opposition including concerns that the turbines would be highly visible from within the park. Opponents also believe the wind farm would be significantly detrimental to the mountainous landscape.
Developer RWE defended the plan, however, which it has stressed is located in Highland Council’s preferred ‘area of search’ for wind farms. The firm added that the turbines would be hidden from view by a ridgeline which forms the park boundary.
The two week long public inquiry is due to start on Monday and will be held at the Macdonald Resort hotel in Aviemore.
Objectors include the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Highland Council, John Muir Trust, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society.
Cairngorms National Park includes the largest area of mountain landscape in Britain, including four of Scotland’s largest peaks as well as moorland, woodlands, rivers and lochs.
It is the largest in the UK and at 3,800 square km it is also double the size of Scotland’s only other national park, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs.