Monster wind turbine thrown out after the balloon goes up in village

IT may seem an unusual way to fight off plans to build a giant turbine on your doorstep.

But canny villagers in Banffshire were determined to get the plans for the 326ft-high turbine thrown out by their local council.

And to show local politicians and planning officials just how high the giant windmill would loom on the skyline, they hired a helium-filled mini barrage balloon for a site visit last week.

Now plans for the 2.3 megawatt turbine on the outskirts of the village of Cornhill have been turned down by Aberdeenshire Council after the councillors were treated to the sight of the big red blimp floating 300ft above them.

The turbine plans, by local farmer James Beattie, attracted 217 objections and 357 letters of support. The issue was said to have torn the community ‘down the middle’. Mr Beattie said a community dividend from the turbine could have provided thousands of pounds to local groups each year, but campaigners argued the scale of the generator was ‘not appropriate to the area’.

One of the objectors, 55-year-old tree surgeon Caroline Hobbs, would not reveal how much it had cost to obtain the balloon but said: ‘It was a big team effort to put it up. We just wanted some way to show the Banff and Buchan councillors how high the turbine was going to be.

‘A lot of this beautiful corner of Aberdeenshire is already just one big wind farm. This whole thing has split the village. The community is so divided. It was said we gatecrashed the site visit, which badly misrepresents what we did. We were all objectors. It was a site visit which we were entitled to go to.’

Councillor Mark Findlater told this week’s committee meeting that the balloon had shown how the turbine would have completely dominated Cornhill.

But councillor Ian Gray branded the 19ft inflatable a ‘red herring’ because it was flown more than 2,000ft away from the site of the proposed turbine on Mr Beattie’s farm.

He said the turbine had been supported by most of the people in Cornhill and would have been ‘hugely beneficial to the local area and the economy in terms of jobs’.

Mr Beattie, who is considering an appeal, said: ‘What gets me is the misinformation that has come from the objectors. Our proposal would have brought £460,000 into the community.’