The former head of tourism in Argyll and the Islands is to appear as a professional witness at two public inquiries into the refusal of separate wind farm proposals for hills opposite Rothesay Bay.

James Fraser, formerly VisitScotland's area director for Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and the Trossachs, will give evidence against the plans when developer West Coast Energy appeals against refusal of its proposal at an inquiry which begins at the Queen's Hall in Dunoon on January 20.

He will also appear in a similar capacity at the inquiry into refusal of a separate application for nearby Black Craig later in the year.

"I will be supporting the case being put forward by both the Bute and Dunoon and Cowal marketing groups - that these wind turbines will be detrimental to tourism in the whole of the Clyde estuary," Mr Fraser told The Buteman.

"Ninety per cent of the visitors who come to Scotland cite the scenic beauty of the country as their raison d'etre for being there, and while there are one or two examples of wind farms that have been developed sensitively, some, such as the Braes of Doune in Perthshire, near where I live, are very prominent, and if you replicate that here the impact could be considerable.

"There is a danger of sleepwalking into a very unwelcome scenario - in fact the local newspaper in Stirling published a full page apology for not having appreciated the visual impact that the Braes of Doune wind farm would have.

"I'm not against wind farms in principle, as long as they are sensitively sited, as has happened with the Cruach Mhor project near Glendaruel.

"But the ones on the Cowal hills would be very prominent. Many people would prefer to call them wind factories, because of their major visual impact, and what is to say there's not more development in the pipeline?"

Mr Fraser took early retirement in June 2006 after almost 30 years in the tourism business, having been chief executive of Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and Trossachs Tourist Board until Scotland's area tourist boards were abolished in April 2005.

Tony Harrison, who owns the Balmory Hall hotel in Ascog and has been leading the campaign on Bute against both the Corlarach and Black Craig applications, told us he was "delighted" that Mr Fraser had agreed to support the protesters.

"It's great to have him on board," Mr Harrison said. "Here we have someone with more credibility in the tourism industry than anyone else I know - when he was chief executive of the area tourist board he really had his finger on the pulse of what mattered to the tourist businesses in his area.

"I'm delighted that James is going to be involved. There is big money in this for the developers and it's well worth their while assembling an army of lawyers and PR people to put their case - we on the other side of the fence have no funding whatsoever, so I couldn't think of a better guy than James to help us put our case."

Since retiring, Mr Fraser has also given evidence to an inquiry into plans for a wind farm in the Clyde Muirshiel regional park, and has appeared on behalf of the 'Stirling Before Pylons' pressure group at an inquiry into Scottish and Southern Energy's plans for a 400kv overhead power line between Beauly and Denny.