Assynt Foundation pushes forward on wind farm plan
Northern Times|March 30, 2007
The Assynt Foundation is moving forward with its plans for a community-owned wind farm in North-West Sutherland following a public meeting this week. The meeting in Lochinver Village Hall on Wednesday night was held to gauge local feeling about the project. It followed an open day when members of the public were invited to view the plans for the small-scale wind development which will number up to six turbines. The location for the wind farm is expected to be in a National Scenic Area within sight of the Suilven and Canisp mountains near Lochinver. Claire Belshaw is chairman of the Assynt Foundation's board of directors. She said around 60 people had attended the public meeting, the majority of whom were in favour of pressing forward with the scheme.
The Assynt Foundation is moving forward with its plans for a community-owned wind farm in North-West Sutherland following a public meeting this week. The meeting in Lochinver Village Hall on Wednesday night was held to gauge local feeling about the project. It followed an open day when members of the public were invited to view the plans for the small-scale wind development which will number up to six turbines. The location for the wind farm is expected to be in a National Scenic Area within sight of the Suilven and Canisp mountains near Lochinver. Claire Belshaw is chairman of the Assynt Foundation's board of directors. She said around 60 people had attended the public meeting, the majority of whom were in favour of pressing forward with the scheme.
The Assynt Foundation is moving forward with its plans for a community-owned wind farm in North-West Sutherland following a public meeting this week.
The meeting in Lochinver Village Hall on Wednesday night was held to gauge local feeling about the project.
It followed an open day when members of the public were invited to view the plans for the small-scale wind development which will number up to six turbines. The location for the wind farm is expected to be in a National Scenic Area within sight of the Suilven and Canisp mountains near Lochinver.
Claire Belshaw is chairman of the Assynt Foundation's board of directors. She said around 60 people had attended the public meeting, the majority of whom were in favour of pressing …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]The Assynt Foundation is moving forward with its plans for a community-owned wind farm in North-West Sutherland following a public meeting this week.
The meeting in Lochinver Village Hall on Wednesday night was held to gauge local feeling about the project.
It followed an open day when members of the public were invited to view the plans for the small-scale wind development which will number up to six turbines. The location for the wind farm is expected to be in a National Scenic Area within sight of the Suilven and Canisp mountains near Lochinver.
Claire Belshaw is chairman of the Assynt Foundation's board of directors. She said around 60 people had attended the public meeting, the majority of whom were in favour of pressing forward with the scheme.
"We asked for permission to investigate it further and everyone was in favour of taking it forward. I was pleased with the sensible discussion. It was a good atmosphere, a positive atmosphere," she said.
Ms Belshaw said there had been one or two people present who had spoken up against the scheme on the grounds of its likely effect on the landscape view. But she said: "We are just going step by step, but we are determined to keep the community involved at every stage in the process.
"It will be a small scale scheme because we are restricted by grid capacity. It will be a maximum of five megawatts but may end up less than that. A feasibility study has been carried out and the next step is probably to undertake environmental, landscape and visual impact surveys. It will make a profit and it will be up to the community to decide how it is spent."