The UK’s leading wild land conservation charity, the John Muir Trust, has objected to plans for the 17-turbine Nathro Hill windfarm at the head of Glen Lethnot, near the Cairngorms National Park.
Developer Eurowind’s plans to build at Garrogie in the Careston Estate are with Scottish ministers.
The trust’s policy officer John Low has written to the Scottish Government and said the area around the Cairngorms National Park is “sacrosanct” and that the trust bases its objection “on our wild land and renewable energy policies”.
“The suitability of the site for development has not been adequately proven, with the landscape and visual impacts being unwarranted within the area and having significant levels of intrusion in surrounding areas,” he said.
Bird charity RSPB Scotland withdrew its objection after concerns over the impact on golden eagle populations were addressed, and the Ministry of Defence also withdrew its objection, which was based on technical issues.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland is still opposed to the project, however, due to concerns over the 61-Megawatt development’s impact on the nearby Munros and Corbetts.
Eurowind director Ian Lindsay said: “Nathro Hill is a good location for a wind farm and a recent survey pointed to over half of people across Angus sharing this view.
“It’s well away from the Cairngorms National Park, Munros and areas where people go for a wild land experience, being located on a long-standing sporting estate which has very limited public recreational use at all.
“JMT regularly oppose wind farms, but this is a good site with a big wind resource which can make a meaningful contribution to climate change and national energy needs, and could yield several times the energy of all the current wind turbines in Angus put together.”