Angus landowners with ambitions to establish the county’s first wind farm on land near Kirriemuir have submitted a formal planning application to the local authority.
A statement on behalf of the partnership said, “It is our hope that Carrach wind farm can be Kingoldrum, Lintrathen and Kirriemuir’s contribution to Scotland’s energy and climate change challenges.
“At the same time we hope that the significant annual community benefit payments will enable those living in local communities to benefit from the project.”
Payments do not go to the council but are paid directly to the community.
A workshop is being planned to explore the best way of setting up a body to receive the money. This could involve setting up a development trust to match the funding with priorities established by locals.
Alyth already has a wind farm community fund in operation.
The areas which will be prioritised for receipt of funding will be the community council areas of Kirriemuir and Kirriemuir Landward West the areas with the most direct connection to the project.
Mark Ruskell of Realise Renewables, working with the landowners on the Carrach project, said that if permission was granted, erection of the turbines, which is weather-dependent, would take six to 12 months.
The plans for Carrach wind farm, five miles north-west of Kirrie, have been altered from proposals presented to the public during a three-month consultation ahead of the formal submission to Angus Council.
The new design features one fewer turbine, now envisaging nine 84-metre turbines. The wind farm’s revised capacity is 7.2 megawatts much smaller than the 37MW capacity of the Drumderg Wind Farm near Alyth.
The partnership of landowners behind the move has warned that the more modest proposals will result in a reduced community fund to be spent on local projects. However, it says it could still eventually rise to £40,000 a year.
On behalf of the project partnership, Alistair Lang of Lower Welton Farm said, “It’s been a long haul but we are pleased that the application is now in and that the planners can scrutinise our proposal at last. Angus has no wind farms at present, but with mounting interest for new developments we hope ours is a competitive proposal.”
He added, “It has been important to us all along to leave no stone unturned in the design of this wind farm, which is why we have carried out extensive assessment work and public consultation to get the best layout that suits the site.
“This has meant dropping a single turbine from the original design and as a result there would be a slight reduction in the community fund available. However, it’s possible that tax refunds could still boost it beyond the £40,000 a year level.”
More than a quarter of those who responded to a survey ahead of the submission were against the wind farm. Out of 115 surveys, 27% “strongly objected”, with a further 8% objecting.
There was 37% registering “strong support” and 22% registering “support.”
The landowners involved in the proposals say the wind farm would help them to diversify their farm businesses at a difficult time for the rural economy. They say they also want communities with a connection to the area to share in some of the financial rewards should the proposal be successful.
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