What can you do?

IN BRIEF

How to Object
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The Planning Process

Who is behind this proposal?
Atmos Consulting, part of West Coast Energy (WCE), is agent in the planning process for Cushnie Wind Energy (CWE).   CWE is a holding company set up by Italian company Falck Renewables and RDC (Scotland).   A partner in RDC owns West Coast Energy.  

Atmos/WCE has submitted a planning application to Aberdeenshire Council for consideration by your Councillors.    It is a large document in five volumes presenting with a generous coat of “greenwash” the developers’ argument in favour of wind factories.  

The areas covered by the ES have been determined by the Council in consultation with other bodies.   There are chapters on landscape and the visual impact from viewpoints such as the nearby Cairngorms National Park and public places in Cushnie and Tarland.   The ES attempts to give reassurances over concerns about the general environment, local ecology (including the impact on bird populations), water resources (hydrology) and soils, the effects on the local economy, such as job creation (although there are likely to be few local jobs) and tourism.   Maps and photographic simulations are included but there are some surprising omissions as was the case on the company’s website.

Acting on behalf of the Scottish Government which owns most of the site, the Forestry Commission supports the wind factory.   The FC is a partner with the Cairngorm National Park Authority (CNPA) and supports its aims and aspirations.   These are laid out in the CNP 2007 strategic plan for the next 25 years for the protection and enhancement of the Park.   Strategic objective 5.1.b. says:  “This sense of wildness and quiet enjoyment should be safeguarded from encroachment by human infrastructure, inappropriate activities or insensitive management and use.”    Pressendye is just 6 km from the National Park.

Who considers the proposal?
The planning officers in Aberdeenshire Council have asked for formal comments on the proposal from other Council officers such as the Archaeologist and from organisations with an interest in the scheme, such as the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Forestry Commission.   You can read the views of consultees as they are posted on the Council website.

Council planning officers will take account of all opinion, including yours.   They may require the developers to clarify certain issues.   At a public meeting a planning official will present a report to your Councillors on the Marr Area Planning Committee recommending whether the Councillors should accept or reject the application.    Anyone can apply in advance to make a representation in person to the Committee at the meeting. The Councillors will then discuss the wind factory proposal, and either take a vote or ask for further work to be done.   They do not have to follow the Council officer’s recommendation.

The Councillors want to know what you think.  Your opinion is valued and you should let your representatives know in writing.    Find out how and when to do this below.

Who can object?

Any individual can send an objection.   Every member of the household should send in a letter of their own.   This includes young people wishing to express their opinion.   They can dictate the letter which an adult can write out for them to sign if necessary.   Each letter will be counted as one objection.

If you know of people without internet access who might wish to object, please provide them with a copy of this page and any other information they might require.

How to Object to the Planning Application

1. Members of the public may still send in their comments/objections until a few weeks before the Marr Area Planning Committee meets to make a decision about the proposal later this year.    Watch the Council Planning Department website (see below) for details of the date of this meeting.

Details of the developers’ proposal and comments/objections (“representations”) from the public and authorities, such as Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Cairngorms National Park, are now being considered by Aberdeenshire Council planning officials.   Although the statutory deadline for comments was in February/March some of the bodies consulted have submitted their objections/comments after that date.  

2. Where to find out details of the application

• The documents can be viewed on the Council website.

3. Where and when to send your objection

• Objections should be sent preferably in writing by post or fax to:

                        Neil Mair
                        Planning Officer
                        Planning and Environmental Services
                        Marr Area Office
                        Aberdeenshire Council
                        Viewmount
                        Arduthie Road
                        Stonehaven
                        AB39 2DQ

• If you don’t want to write a letter or you leave it to the last minute, e-mail: ma.planapps@aberdeenshire.gov.uk. Alternatively, submit a comment via the Planning Department website given above.

Make sure you give details in your email of your name and address, etc., as in 4 below.

                        Phone: 01569 768300
                        Fax: 01569 766549

4. Important information to include in your letter, email or fax:

• The title of the application: Full Planning Permission for 7 Wind Turbines.
• The application reference number: APP/2008/0237
• Official location of the site: “Whole Site to the south of Scarhill Radio Station, Pressendye, Cushnie”.
• Your name and address
• Your reason for objecting (see below)

5.  What can you object about?
To make your views count, you should comment on aspects of the proposal which the Councillors on the Planning Committee are allowed to consider before making their decision to accept or reject it.

Here are a few examples of the sort of objections the Planning Committee will listen to:

• Damage to views of the landscape which to the south has been designated in the Aberdeenshire Local Plan as an Area of Landscape Significance.
• Permanent scarring of the hill by huge turbines, c5 kms of wide access tracks, excavations, quarrying and concrete bases.
• Spoiling the settings of historic houses and heritage sites, eg., Tomnaverie Stone Circle.
• Harming wildlife and destruction of habitats/ecology, plants, insects, birds (including red kites, golden eagles, goshawk geese), red squirrels and wildcats, etc.
• Putting off the visitors and tourists who up until now come to Deeside and the Cairngorms National Park to enjoy views from Burn O’Vat, Loch Kinord, Lochnagar and Morven, etc.
• Interfering with recreational activities such as hillwalking, paragliding and horseriding.
• Disturbing noise levels, visual distraction and traffic disruption during construction and operation.

Each of these categories is addressed in detail in the ‘The Cost To’  page of this website.  

Observations on the Environmental Statement

For people who don’t have time to read the developers’ documents (c3 inches thick) in the short period allowed for public comment, we have made some observations in a Comments on Environmental Statement.  If time permits, we shall add comments to this as they arise. 

6.  The following are NOT considered to be valid grounds for objecting to the development

• Likely devaluation of property
• Loss of a private view
• Hours of construction work
• Legal property rights
• Errors made in the process of notifying neighbours
• Financial viability, ie, whether the developers will make money out of it.

But as long as you include some valid reasons, it doesn’t matter if you include some which
might not be considered.    It is best if every member of the household wishing to object writes their own letter in their own words.   However, parents can write a letter on behalf of each child if they are not able to.   Everyone has something to contribute.   In many respects your local knowledge of the area may be far greater than that of the developer.    It is important that you tell the Council what impact you think this industrial development would have on your countryside.

Why are some reasons valid and some not?
What Councillors consider is set out in the provisions of the Council “Development Plan”.   This is consists of the Structure Plan for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire 2001 –2016 known as “North East Scotland Together” (NEST).   This is currently being rewritten and will probably not be completed until the end of the year or later.   In the meantime the Adopted Aberdeenshire Local Plan 2006 which comes from NEST remains in force.

The Structure Plan and the Local Plan mentioned above are the crucial guidelines against which the success or failure of the wind farm application will be determined.   Your objections will look better if you are able to refer to specific policies within them but you don’t need to, of course.  

There are the IMPORTANT policies in the Aberdeenshire Local Plan to which you should refer.
The starting point for windfarm policy is Aberdeenshire Council’s Structure Plan and Local Plan.    Appendix 12 of the Local Plan defines how land within Aberdeenshire is classified  into 4 tiers.  Tier 1 covers the most sensitive areas while Tier 4 covers the least sensitive.
All the land from the top of Pressendye (including a section of the summit ridge) west towards Morven and south to Tarland and beyond to the Dee Valley is designated as a Tier 3 area and classified by the Aberdeenshire Structure Plan as an “Area of Landscape Significance”. Policy Env\5B of the Aberdeenshire Local Plan states that development within or adjacent to an Area of Landscape Significance will not be permitted where its scale, location or design will detract from the quality or character of the landscape either in part or as a whole.
It would be impossible to site the turbines anywhere on the ridge of the hill without having a major impact upon the Area of Landscape Significance.
You can look on the Aberdeenshire Council’s website for further references such as Chapter 6 - Infrastructure Policy

Part of Section INF\7 on “Renewable Energy Facilities - Wind Energy” states:

“Wind energy developments should not be located on the ridgeline and/or result in the loss of amenity to sensitive receptors [viewers], such as those who live, work or enjoy recreation pursuits on land or water. Sites should be selected which minimise skyline silhouettes seen from important roads, footpaths, rivers, lochs, listed buildings, archaeological sites, viewpoints and/or inhabited dwellings. Developers should avoid siting wind turbines in landscape which is inappropriate for the size or number of wind turbines proposed. For example, in an uncluttered or small-scale landscape.”

As part of the new Structure Plan, the Government has asked Councils to identify areas they consider suitable or unsuitable for wind factory developments.   There are at present no areas designated.   Each proposals is considered “on its own merits”.   You will be given the opportunity to stress your general concern about inappropriate wind factory schemes when the Councils consult the public on the draft Structure Plan from April 2008.

Contact
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Please use email to contact us if you wish to help in any way with this campaign, including the provision of information on any of the issues involved.   Of particular interest to us are sightings of wildlife or activities on the hill or in the wider area.

You can also comment on how well you think the consultation process has been carried out by the developers.
Tell us whether your comments are for publication on the website and whether you wish to remain anonymous.   Posting of material intended for publication is at the discretion of the editors of this site.
Email

While the proposal raises a wide range of issues, we have tried to keep this website concise and manageable.   If you think we have overlooked important information, please let us know.   Our material resources are small – our resourcefulness is growing and you can add to this.

Addresses
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Lobbying Councillors who sit on the Marr Area Planning Committee.

If you want to send your local Councillor a copy of your letter of objection to the application, the addresses are given below in alphabetical order:

Local Councillors