Public inquiry into wind farm goes ahead after legal objection rejected
A PUBLIC inquiry into a controversial 34-turbine wind farm in the Highlands has begun after a legal challenge claiming it was unlawful was rejected.
In the first test to a watershed Court of Session ruling, opponents to the Glenmorie project in Ross-shire tried to halt the four-day hearing before it had even started.
The position of anti-windfarm campaigners to oppose the legality of the inquiry followed a ruling by Lady Clark of Calton that the Viking Energy wind farm in Shetland was “incompetent” as it did not have a genera- tion licence from the electricity regulators.
Legal teams from the conservation charity John Muir Trust and campaign group Save Our Straths (SOS) argued that, as the Glenmorie Wind Farm proposal also has no licence, the inquiry should be postponed until the outcome of a Scottish Government appeal to Lady Clark’s judgment, to be heard next year. They also claimed it would save over £100,000 in costs, particularly if the appeal failed.
Glenmorie Wind Farm LLP has applied for a 34-turbine development in Glenmorie, near Ardross in Ross-shire.
The public inquiry
was called after Highland Council voted unanimously against the plans, lodging a formal objection to the development on the grounds it would have a detrimental impact on the landscape.
The Reporter will make a rec- ommendation to Scottish ministers after four days of evidence.
Highland Council had also sought clarification on the issue from the Scottish Government Reporter in charge, Katrina Rice, although its legal position was the inquiry would be lawful for the time being.
After two hours of legal debate, the Reporter said the hearing should proceed.
John Campbell, QC, representing SOS, had argued that on “a simple view” of Lady Clark’s decision, the Reporter had before her an “incompetent application”. He pointed out the ruling was a statement from a judge and claimed that it reduced the Shetland application to the point where it had effectively never been made.
But James Findlay, counsel for Highland Council, said the authority accepted Lady Clark’s judgment only applied to the Viking Energy application, and she had not declared all such applications without a generating licence as invalid.
He said the council believed the Glenmorie application was lawful at the moment, pending the appeal.
A spokeswoman for developers Glenmorie Wind Farm LLP, part of AES Wind Generation, said they were happy with yesterday’s decision.