Work starts at ‘world’s largest’ onshore farm
WORK has begun on a closed containment salmon farm in Tayinloan on the Kintyre peninsula which, when completed, may bring 20 new jobs to the area.
Demolition workers were pictured earlier this month at the site, which is being developed by Perthshire based FishFrom, reported Hannah O’Hanlon
of the Campbeltown Courier.
FishFrom, which claims the site will house ‘the world’s largest onshore recirculation salmon facility’, received planning permission in December 2013 to build a £20 million closed containment aquaculture production facility at Rhunahaorine.
The site previously hosted a salmon farm which operated for around 15 years but was left in a state of disrepair following its closure in 2003.
Little has been done in the years following the planning permission approval, but in February this year an application to renew planning permission was granted and, with a building standards warrant in place, work began to demolish the existing structures on the site.
Two JCB opera- tors using machinery from Ruttle Plant Hire, whose managing director Harry Ruttle owns the site, have begun, to level the previous buildings.
FishFrom’s Brian Floyd told Fish Farmer that they are on schedule and construction work is due to start early next year.
And FishFrom’s director Andrew Robertson recently met Fergus Ewing, minister for the Rural Economy and Connectivity, to discuss the plans.
When it first went to planning, the concept was largely supported by the local community, as well as then Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie McGrigor, Kintyre and the Isles councillor Anne Horn, and West Kintyre Community Council.
Supporters argued that the development would bring much needed jobs to Kintyre, while restoring the derelict site.
The closed containment, recirculation system should reduce pollution, as there should be no waste streams or effluent. And being on land means there is no risk of sea lice, predators such as seals, or escapes.
Kintyre councillor Rory Colville said: ‘It is exciting, it will make a dynamic change to the economic future of the Tayinloan area.’