A WIND farm located in the hills high above Selkirk, between Linglie Glen and The Three Brethren, generating money for local causes as well as electricity, could transform the Royal Burgh. Investigations into the possibility of a community wind farm are at a very early stage, but Selkirk Community Council has now taken the step of submitting their comments on a draft document about community benefits from commercial wind farms. The council feels there is plenty of under-exploited Common Good land and has welcomed the consultation paper, drawn up by Scottish Borders Council, as a good starting point for creating order in the important area of commercial wind generation and how it may impact on communities. However, the community council is adamant that any money generated by a wind farm on Common Good land should be paid to, and disbursed by, the local community, as embodied by the community council.

AMBITIOUS plans were announced yesterday to build the world's largest community wind farm on Shetland, capable of generating enough power to supply a quarter of Scotland's homes. The islands council, which has already made a fortune from its oil fund established 20 years ago, is now poised to make a massive windfall from renewable energy. The £600-million development of 200 turbines is to be built across a 90sq-km site on the north of the Shetland mainland, near the village of Vidlin, in a groundbreaking partnership between Viking Energy, the company established to represent Shetland Islands Council's (SIC) interests in wind farms, and energy giant Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). The agreement, paving the way for the massive development, was formally signed at Busta House in Brae. The development of the giant wind farm is expected to generate up to £25-million-a-year income for the islanders.

A Welsh firm has vowed to plough hundreds of thousands of pounds into an Afan Valley community if its wind farm plans get the green light.Cardiff-based Eco2 is poised to submit plans for four 410ft turbines to power 7,500 homes on land near the village of Glyncorrwg. It said it will dish out £9,750 a year to the community for 25 years - the projected lifespan of the scheme. But opponents in the village say they are under siege from wind farm applications, and that the benefits will have scant impact on climate change.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the adventurer and outdoor campaigner, has launched a scathing attack on the Scottish executive’s renewable energy policy, claiming the country’s landscape is being ruined by wind turbines. Fiennes, a world-renowned explorer and mountaineer, accused ministers of creating a blight across much of rural Scotland and of putting the country’s tourism industry at risk. He said rural communities were threatened with destruction and urged Jack McConnell, the first minister, to scrap his renewables target until other methods of green energy generation are found.

Campaigners fear the impact of plans to use the Port of Ramsgate in Kent as the operating base for the world’s largest wind farm in the Thames Estuary. The government granted permission on Monday for the 341-turbine scheme off the Kent and Essex coasts along with a smaller 100-turbine project off Thanet. The Ramsgate First group said it was concerned about the effect of the base on residents and visitors to the town. Thanet District Council said it would not allow any serious disruption.

Plans to build England’s largest onshore windfarm would hit North Devon’s vital tourism industry, a public inquiry into the project was told yesterday. The warning was made by Martin Wickham, the general manager of the North Devon Marketing Bureau, at the public inquiry into plans by Exeter-based Devon Wind Power to build 22 wind turbines each 360ft high at Fullabrook Down, near Ilfracombe. Mr Wickham said the beautiful rural nature of North Devon and Exmoor was the underlying reason for people to come to the area and they might find other places to go if they felt the view had been spoiled by a windfarm.

The development of wind turbines around Dartmoor could damage the area’s vital tourism industry in the same way as foot and mouth disease, a public inquiry into windfarm plans has been warned.

When the Siddells moved to rural Ayrshire, they hoped for a life of peace and quiet. Now, at night, they say they can’t hear the television properly because of the wind turbines that loom over their converted steading.

‘A victory for common sense and local democracy’ — that was the description of a planning inquiry decision that ruled against building three wind turbines within striking distance of Dartmoor. Opponents, who have fought the scheme to build the 81m turbines for the last 18 months, were in jubilant mood following the announcement last Thursday. Inspector Keith Smith dismissed an appeal by developers West Coast Energy following a public inquiry held in Okehampton in June. Ray Quirke, chairman of opposition group ODAT, said: ‘We are overjoyed and extremely relieved at the news. These turbines would have blighted our lives.

“The MCofS originally objected to the proposed Beauly to Denny transmission line on grounds of lack of evidence of need for the line, the devastating impact it would have on landscape, and as a consequence of that the effect it would have on Scotland’s tourism industry.” “The proposed string of pylon towers over 200 feet high is inextricably linked to the large number of wind farm proposals currently in the planning and approval pipeline, which if approved by the Scottish Executive, would devastate the hitherto unspoilt scenic upland landscape of Scotland for generations.”

Scottish tourism must go green, according to industry leaders, with less dependence on short-haul flights into Scottish airports and protection of scenic areas against planned wind farms. They warned yesterday that the rapid growth in visitor numbers could be harmed if the wilderness was spoiled by power-grid pylons or turbines, including the prospect of offshore wind farms threatening to spoil sea views. “Tourism-fragile zones” are being proposed in rural visitor honeypots, where there would be a block on wind farms, at least until a national review of their expansion.

THERE could be “potentially catastrophic effects” on both the local tourism industry and the roads network if the Griffin Forest and Calliacher windfarms get the go-ahead, according to Mid-Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Murdo Fraser. He explained that the proposed Griffin Forest development would consist of 68 turbines, almost all with a maximum height from base to blade tip of 124 metres. They would be built to the east of the A826, between Aberfeldy and Trochry, covering a total area around the size of Perth. The Calliachar development would consist of 27 turbines, with a maximum height of 100 metres, and would be built to the west of the A826, between Aberfeldy, Kenmore and Amulree, covering around 624 hectares.

A TOURIST board has come out strongly against wind farm developments which could impact on Northumberland as a top holiday destination. Northumberland Tourism has called for an independent study in the wake of a rush of renewable energy applications across the county. There are currently eight live applications with another 17 in the pipeline – totalling nearly 300 turbines.

THE local tourism board for Northumberland has come out strongly against windfarm development which could impact on Northumberland as a top holiday destination and has called for an urgent independent study. The plea from Northumberland Tourism comes in the wake of a rush of renewable energy applications across the county. There are currently eight 'live' applications with another 17 in the pipeline – totalling nearly 300 turbines.

Coutryside guardians yesterday echoed fears that the drive to generate green energy was threatening serious harm to Northumberland's vital tourism industry. The Campaign to Protect Rural England says the potential influx of hundreds of huge wind turbines would damage the county's natural assets and hamper its ability to attract more visitors and their spending power.

Tourism chiefs in Northumberland fear the rush to erect hundreds of giant wind turbines poses a serious threat to the county's natural beauty and could drive away visitors - and their money. Northumberland Tourism - the agency set up this year to promote the county's visitor industry - is the latest player to enter the debate over wind farms.

Developers behind plans for an Aberdeen offshore wind farm are denying that their proposals have been ‘watered down’ in response to concerns raised by billionaire Donald Trump.

DONALD Trump, the American billionaire, has forced the relocation of a wind farm that he claimed would blight his planned golf course in Aberdeenshire.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have slammed Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from building a prestigious golf resort in the northeast unless a wind farm development is halted.