A COMMUNITY group which aims to stop plans on Royal Deeside on the Hill of Fare for what would be the UK’s tallest wind farm has launched its NaeFare campaign – www.naefare.com.
RES plans to build 16 turbines up to 200m tall in an environmentally sensitive area, despite local survey showing that 75%* of local residents are against this.
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The turbines will be ten times as tall as the Angel of The North statue, more than three times the height of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, higher than six Kelpies statues balanced on each other and more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben. It’s estimated that they will be visible all the way to the Moray coast.
Midmar resident David Smith, spokesperson for the NaeFare campaign, said: “These turbines will be ten times as tall as the Angel of The North statue, more than three times the height of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, higher than six Kelpies statues balanced on each other and more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben. It’s estimated that they will be visible all the way to the Moray coat.
“These monster turbines will be set atop the Hill of Fare which stand 460m above sea level; they will blight the landscape for miles and for many communities.
“Nae Fare is a passionate community of individuals, living locally, unlike the landowner of the Dunecht Estate who lives and works in SE England, dedicated to safeguarding the Hill of Fare and its stunning surroundings.
“We believe in the importance of responsible, sustainable energy generation but are deeply concerned about the potential negative impact of the proposed wind turbines on this unique and unspoiled natural habitat.”
As well as the impact on the natural environment, the NaeFare campaign sets out the group’s concerns about the loss of landscape character, noise and vibration disturbance and visual flicker on those living nearby. The planned windfarm would be in a neighbourhood with a higher population than similar windfarms elsewhere in the UK. Over 120 homes plus businesses and farms on the Hill depend on its spring water for their water supply.
Not only will these wind turbines be imposed on those living in the area by an absentee landlord who lives in the Southeast of England but would be directly against the Aberdeenshire Plan to reserve this location for domestic scale renewables.
The Hill of Fare wind factory would serve only the purposes of George Pearson, Dunecht Estate and RES the developer,
The impact on the local population would be chaos and distress of the construction process, which is required with new access roads, constant heavy vehicle traffic, massive concrete-filled foundations and battery storage on the hillside. Valuable animal habitats, heritage sites and peat bogs will be lost forever.
The NaeFare campaign aims to provide the information which local people need to object to the development effectively. The website – www.naefare.com – guides them through the object process allowing individuals to submit their objection directly to the ECU, where formal objections should be made.
Formal objections can be made on what are known as material considerations such as the visual impact on the landscape, environmental destruction, local population nuisance, private water supplies and that the plans contravene the Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan.
Formal objections are made to the Energy Consent Unit (ECU) but NaeFare is calling on residents to make their views known to their local Aberdeenshire councillors too so that they understand the strength of opposition too. Every adult member of a household can object and also anyone living outside of Aberdeenshire can object to the ECU as well.
The NaeFare website has a step by step process for helping people to construct and submit their objections online. https://naefare.com/object-now.
David Smith concluded: “At a time when we have already met out national onshore wind targets, this development will give no incremental benefit and will rip the heart from a place of natural beauty forever. Surely these turbines belong offshore rather than blighting the lives of Aberdeenshire residents?”
