Turbines are blasted
Beautiful views are blown away
The impact of wind turbines on a top beauty spot is far worse than expected.
That is the verdict from public agency Scottish Natural Heritage on a wind farm beside the Straiton Monument.
The Ayrshire Post hiked up Craigengower Hill to the protected obelisk and recorded footage of the towering skyscrapers whizzing in the wind – watch the video on the Ayrshire Post Facebook page.
Save Straiton for Scotland campaign chair Lala Burchall- Nolan said the turbines have blighted the stunning vista.
She said: “It is heartbreaking. The turbines are extremely close to the obelisk, which is a national scheduled monument. They are absolutely massive and on an industrial scale. Scottish Natural Heritage said the impact of the development is much worse than was anticipated.”
Lala believes the 23 Dersalloch turbines were erected without “a proper public process.”
Scottish Natural Heritage said there were “greater than predicted effects of Dersalloch wind farm on the qualities of Merrick Wild Land Area.”
Lala and her fellow campaigners are now gearing up to fight additional turbines at the Linfairn windfarm.
But Scottish Natural Heritage are not objecting, claiming Dersalloch had already “changed the baseline conditions to a significant degree.”
Lala said: “That means the landscape is damaged now, so hey ho. This is massively disappointing from a body who is supposed to be protecting our landscape.”
Save Straiton for Scotland defeated 90 turbines after launching robust objections against multiple plans.
Lala said: “Initially we were facing five different wind farms. If they had succeeded there would have been a ring of steel around the village and a total of 130 turbines.
“We have already defeated three of them outright.
“We are fighting to keep this one part of South Ayrshire beautiful.
“There are 10 times more turbines per head of population in Ayrshire than anywhere else in the country. “We have been fighting multi national organisations with endless resources. It is a lot of work and it has required a lot of focus and determination from the community. “
A Scottish Natural Heritage spokesman said: “Our role on this case is to provide advice to Scottish Government on the impact of the proposed Linfairn wind farm on our natural assets.
“We initially objected to this planning application based on our understanding of the potential effect on the qualities of the Merrick Wild Land Area ( WLA).
However, we have updated our advice following consideration of the effect of the newly- built Dersalloch wind farm. This development is prominent in views from the Wild Land Area. We have concluded that the proposed Linfairn wind farm would not significantly increase the effects of existing human artefacts and contemporary land uses outwith the WLA as viewed from within this area.”
He said the impact of Linfairn will be less significant and not raise issues of national interest.