Concerns over wind farm numbers and noise raised at packed meeting

A public meeting organised by Kintyre residents with concerns about the number of wind farms between Lochgilphead and Southend was packed on Tuesday night.

People from all along the peninsula came together at the Templar Arts and Leisure Centre in Tarbert to raise concerns about the volume of wind farms and the impact on the land and its people.

Ten wind farms have already been built in Kintyre and residents are concerned about the “flood of applications” for more.

Figures collated by the group say that currently five more have been given consent, two are awaiting a decision following appeal, two have been refused following appeal, five are at the scoping stage with another two in scoping on hold and one seeking planning consent.

Melvin Grosvenor, of Grosvenor Consultancy, has been working with the MacArthur family at Arnicle Farm, Glenbarr.

He said low frequency sound was causing the people who lived there great discomfort.

Mr Grosvenor said: “The problem with low frequency is it will just flow through the glens. If we have bigger turbines and people are sandwiched between them there is no escape.”

The expert said wooden structured houses and homes with velux windows were particularly vulnerable to low frequency sound.

He added: “This family’s health has been very badly damaged and they didn’t have a clue what was happening.

“The wind industry is so good at playing the green card; if people have legitimate environmental concerns they should be heard.”

Iain MacArthur of Arnicle Farm said he was only getting two hours’ sleep a night since the turbines went up in size two years ago.

Mr Grosvenor said: “They have had 28 small turbines since 2001 at Beinn An Tuirc. When the 14 Blary Hill turbines started operating at 2.5 megawatt with a height of 110 metres in November 2021, closer to the farm, within a few days they started to complain to Argyll and Bute Council about shadow flicker and noise.

“It’s acoustic noise, low frequency infrasound.”

Mr MacArthur said: “I can’t sleep properly at night. We get two hours a night. We have constant buzzing in our ears, a bit like tinnitus. We don’t get it when we leave the place. I get dizziness and feel as if I’ve aged 10 years in the last two.

“It has been my home for all my life. If it wasn’t for our farm, we would have bought a house somewhere else. But it is in my family, so why should we give it up?”

Sue Reid Sexton, of North Beachmore, above Muasdale, helped organise the meeting. She said: “We need more people who are being affected to contact us.

“I think we need to meet up again and think about what we will do about this.”

Her neighbour Jane Schofield added: “Everyone leave their details and we can have smaller meetings, for particular areas like Tayinloan and Lochgilphead.”

Following the meeting Ms Reid Sexton said: “I was very pleased with the turnout. I think it will help more people to have an understanding about the dangers of infrasound, which is sound which you can’t hear but it affects you very badly. If you go to a rock concert and stand next to a speaker you feel something in your belly. That’s what Iain MacArthur lives with 24 hours a day. They have had the most terrible time.”

Mr Grosvenor said: “People are not being believed. This is serious. The problems are going to happen more and more as they get bigger turbines.”