Residents living in one of Scotland's tourist havens yesterday told how proposals for two towering wind turbines in the coastal village had instantly "divided" their community. Alarm bells sounded at Ullapool, Wester Ross, as news spread that local energy firm, the ironically named Invisible Heating Systems (IHS), had submitted plans for two 80ft wind turbines beside its premises.

Campaigners have won their battle to overturn plans for a five-turbine windfarm on the unspoiled coastline of the Solway Firth. Around 1,000 villagers, visitors and business owners from Allonby and the surrounding area sent letters of objection to Allerdale Council when Nuon Renewables submitted plans to build the 102m turbines at Brownrigg Hall Farm, just outside Allonby. Today councillors on the Allerdale development panel rejected the plans on the grounds the windfarm would have a detrimental visual impact in the landscape and harm tourism in the area.

He said the national view of VisitScotland, on windfarms, was summed up by the following statement. "VisitScotland understands and supports the drive for renewable energy and recognises the potential of Scotland's vast resource. As a consequence, VisitScotland is not against the principle of windfarm development. "Research carried out by an independent consultancy was inconclusive and reflected a split in visitor opinion between those strongly against windfarm development of any kind and those who said in some areas it actually enhanced what was otherwise a bleak and unattractive landscape. "However, VisitScotland is becoming increasingly concerned over the proliferation of speculative development proposals, many of them in areas of high landscape or scenic value or in locations which directly impact on tourism operations or activity. "The local area network offices are aware of this concern and are keeping a close eye on development proposals affecting their areas. "In cases where it is clear that in VisitScotland's opinion tourism will be affected in a negative manner, representations will be made through the formal planning process. "VisitScotland will, however, not get involved in open public debate in the media prior to applications being formally submitted.

Plans for a five-turbine windfarm near Allonby are set to be turned down. Energy firm Nuon Renewables wants to erect the 102-metre turbines, on land next to Brownrigg Hall Farm. The windfarm would be on the Solway coastal plain, around 1.9km inland from Allonby, and close to the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site. But local parish councils, Cumbria Tourism and the county council, as well as many local people, objected to the plans because of the potential impact on wildlife, the landscape and tourism.

A citizens' group opposed to the location of massive wind-energy plant in northern Potter County is pressuring Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to stop the plan. However, with Gov. Rendell pushing for renewable energy projects in Pennsylvania, the "Save God's Country" (SGC) group could face an uphill struggle. An SGC spokesman said the location of wind turbines in the region is at odds with the governor's strong support for the Pennsylvania Wilds tourist promotion plan. "Are hundreds of industrial wind turbines something that will tempt people to visit the Pennsylvania Wilds?" asked Dan Howe. "It seems incongruous, and yet this is what is happening in Potter, Cameron, McKean, Lycoming and Tioga counties, all designated as the Pennsylvania Wilds."

The National Hotels and Restaurants Association (ASONAHORES) praised the Government's decision to solve the conflict regarding the construction of a wind energy park in Punta Cana (east), looking for a suitable place for that project and which doesn't affect tourism development. ASONAHORES president Luis Lopez said yesterday that he met with Tourism minister Felix Jiménez, and the executive vice-president of the Dominican energy czar Radhamés Segura, and it was agreed, as Tourism had proposed and his entity demanded, to relocate the project where it doesn't affect the zone's tourism expansion. The place originally selected by the Punta Cana-Macao energy group (CEPEM), is in an area zoned for tourism resorts, created by decree in 1986, and for which ASONAHORES had demanded adherence.

The Union of Owners of the lands and tourism projects at Punta Cana's Polygon 5 reiterated that the Punta Cana-Macao Energy Consortium (CEPM) seeks to install a wind energy park in the coastal strip at Cabo Engaño, Altagracia (Higuey) province (east), in private lands and without the required permits. But the CEPM affirms that it has the project's necessary permits. The president of the owners' organization Braulio Garrido warned that they are wiling to go to court and file charges for abuse authority against any official who violates the tourism legislation, the Law of Coasts and Seas, and decree 595-06 authorizing the construction of the wind mills, which he affirms would be the highest constructions built in that zone of the country. They stated that decree 595-06 issued by president Leonel Fernandez does not authorize CEPM to install a wind energy park in the coastal strip. "The first paragraph establishes that it authorizes that partnership to build project on their land of their property and we challenge the promoters of the wind energy park to present their deeds and permits authorizing them to occupy that place," he said. Garrido feels that it would be detrimental for the country if it decides to sell part of its lands to install a wind park in a tourism zone, affirming that the Union of Owners has 40 million square meters of land along the Cabo Engaño shoreline. He insists that the project affects tourism and pollutes the environment.

Offshore wind farms could seriously damage tourism in some of the country’s most scenic beauty spots, it was warned yesterday. Failte Ireland is particularly concerned about plans to build up to 400 wind turbines off the coastline between Killiney, Co Dublin and Arklow, Co Wicklow. All of them, at 160 metres-high, would be visible from the shoreline. Failte Ireland said it was not ‘anti-wind farm’ but had to protect the country’s tourism industry.

Controversial plans for a windfarm near a country park have been ruled out. A proposal to build 19 turbines - each around 300ft high - in Kelburn Estate, near Largs in Ayrshire, has been rejected in the face of major opposition. Planning chiefs said the windfarm posed a threat to the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park environment and the tourism industry.

The Jordanville Wind Project’s 68 proposed wind turbines, which would stand nearly 400 feet tall, could have a visual impact on southern Herkimer County and as far away as Cooperstown. A debate is emerging among residents about how the sight of the turbines would affect the beauty of the landscape, land values and tourism. Some think the impact will be small or nonexistent, while others believe there could be many downsides. People visit the Cooperstown area not just for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, other museums and tourist attractions, but also for the scenic views, said Harry Levine of a citizens’ group called Advocates for Springfield. “I think we have to be very careful how we treat this background landscape because it could have a long-term effect on tourism,” Levine said.

Campaigners in Eden have welcomed a government-sponsored report that highlights the damage wind farms can do to tourism. Members of COLT, Communities Opposing Lamonby Turbines, say the report backs their view. Plans for turbines at Whinash were thrown out after a public inquiry. Further applications for turbines at Lamonby, Skelton and Shap are being opposed by campaigners. The energy policy document, written on behalf of the Small Business Council, focuses on the impact on tourism and the rural economy of putting turbines up in rural areas. The SBC advises trade and industry ministers on the effect of Government policy on small firms. The report refers in part to a survey of 212 Cumbrian firms, in which 42 per cent thought that wind farm developments would detract from visitors’ experiences. Opinions of some in the report would like to see more offshore wind farms.

The Environment and Public Works Ministry is in favor of developing wind farms on Greek islands but wants to place strict restrictions on such development. The Greek islands, buffeted by winds for most of the year, have great potential as wind park locations. Ministry officials estimate that as many as 7,000 turbines could be installed, producing about 14,000 megawatts of energy annually. Private investors are fighting over prime locations. The islands also happen to be among Greece’s major tourist attractions. An overdevelopment of wind farms would create both aesthetic conflicts and great noise pollution, as anyone who has visited a wind park can confirm. Thus, the new land use plan for renewable energy sources being prepared by the Environment and Public Works Ministry would limit wind parks to 4 percent of a municipality’s area (versus 8 percent on the mainland and on the island of Evia), which should limit the number of wind turbines to 2,000, producing some 4,000 MW of energy.

Broadcaster and author Eric Robson has spoken out against plans to build a windfarm on fells alongside the M6 at Shap. The Cumbrian, who chairs Cumbria Tourism, has become a patron of Community Opposed to Shap Turbines (COST).

East Yorkshire’s tourist industry would be hit if huge wind turbines were built in the region, according to business owners. However, energy companies developing the wind farms have said the schemes could attract visitors to the area. The claims were made ahead of an East Riding Council planning committee meeting being held today.

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.

Tourism brochures tout the region’s mountains, lakes, ski slopes and trails. But some officials think those promotional guides should start including windmill sites. While the turbines popping up on the Cambria-Somerset horizon may not have the charm of the backyard devices among the tulip fields of Holland, these structures already are playing a role in drawing tourists to Somerset County. Some believe the windmills could do a lot more than generate power. “It’s how you sell it and how you market yourself,” said Erik Foley, director of the Renewable Energy Center at St. Francis University. “We could become the clean energy capital of the world.”

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.

Nimby-ism (Notin My Back) is almost understandable when talking about a gas pipeline or an ugly McMansion. But when it comes to environmentally friendly, quiet and- some say- beautiful windmills, an astonishing number of people are saying "no". Melanie Wold asks, "Why? Is it all the dead seagulls?"

Editor's Note: This article appeared in the October 2006 issue of Shattered Magazine. The pdf version is available via the link below.

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.

“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.”