News Story

A wind farm that could provide electricity for two million homes risks having “significant adverse effects” on the landscape and cultural heritage of Scottish islands, councillors have been told.

The report for Argyll and Bute Council urges the local authority to oppose the MachairWind development, proposed by ScottishPower Renewables.

The energy giant is hoping to install 91 turbines at 335-metres in height or 144 280-metre turbines in waters to the north-west of Islay and to the west of Colonsay on Scotland’s west coast.

ScottishPower Renewables has said the “vital green energy project” could generate around two gigawatts of electricity enough to power the equivalent of up to two million homes.

If it gets the go ahead from the Scottish Government, it hopes the wind farm could be up and running by 2033.

However more than 5,000 objections to the development have been received by the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team, the Argyll and Bute report reveals.

The National Trust for Scotland has already outlined its objection to the plans, saying the development would have a “significant” impact on island communities in the area.

Now the report, prepared by officials at Argyll and Bute Council, has recommended the authority too objects to the proposal.

The report recommends the council objects to the wind farm on “seascape and landscape visual impact grounds”, adding the development would have a “significant adverse” impact contrary to the National Marine Plan, the Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework 4 and the Argyll and Bute Local Development Plan.

The report goes on to the claim the project would have “significant effects on the setting of terrestrial heritage assets”, including the conservation area on the island of Iona.

Council officials in the report question the “adequacy” of an environmental impact assessment for the development, saying it made an “underassessment of the significance” of the impact on the seascape, landscape and  cultural heritage.

While the officials accepted MachairWind would make a “significant contribution” to green energy targets, they added that renewables projects “should not be at any cost”.

They concluded: “In relation to key considerations, the significant adverse effects of the proposed development on landscape, seascape and visual impact and on cultural heritage impacts cannot be effectively mitigated.

“The resulting harm from these effects alone would be so great that, notwithstanding any potential socio-economic benefits or positive impacts on climate change, the principle of development of a large-scale offshore wind farm at this location is not acceptable.”

The report was welcomed by local campaign group Hebridean Horizon, which opposes the development.

A spokesperson for the group said: “This is an excellent and rigorous intervention that significantly undermines ScottishPower Renewables’ already weak case for MachairWind.

“We are especially pleased to note that the council officers have come to the same conclusion as the community councils of the surrounding islands and confirm what we have all known for a long time that the scale, location and visual effects of 91 wind turbines the size of the Eiffel Tower cannot be mitigated in any way.”

A spokesperson for ScottishPower Renewables said: “MachairWind is a vital green energy project that will deliver more clean power to the grid, strengthen the UK’s energy security and help drive economic growth.

“We believe it will deliver long and lasting economic and social benefits across the islands, west coast of Scotland and beyond, and have carried out extensive work to measure this as part of our consent submission.

“We continue to consult with various stakeholders, including local communities, and will also be setting up a community benefit fund if the projected is consented, shaped by local people for local people.

“We’ve been working with communities and businesses across Argyll and Bute for more than 20 years to realise the benefits of clean energy and MachairWind will build on this strong track record to make sure that continues.”