Turbine turn-off for hill walkers

Nearly a quarter of hill walkers say they avoid areas which have windfarms, a study by their representational body has revealed.

Mountaineering Scotland has quantified the impact windfarms located in mountain landscapes have on hillwalking behaviour for the first time. In a survey of members, over twothirds (67%) stated that they prefer not to see windfarms when in the mountains and 22% said that they avoided areas with windfarms when planning their activities.

Mountaineering Scotland has published a report into the impact windfarms have on the behaviour of mountaineers and hill walkers as part of the evidence base the organisation uses when opposing the small number of windfarm planning applications that it believes would cause irreparable damage to Scottish mountain landscapes if allowed to go ahead.

Of the 1,400 members surveyed, the 23% who avoid areas with windfarms or go less often compares with just 2% who said they were encouraged to visit the mountains more often because of windfarms.