THE money-spinning benefits of a controversial wind turbine scheme planned for a sensitive Ross-shire site will be spelled out to residents before crunch decisions are made.

While proposals by Falck Renewables for a multimillion-pound five-turbine scheme on Nigg Hill have been slammed as "totally inappropriate" by opponents, a group including well-known community figures is warning that the spin-off benefits - which could be worth up to £200,000 per year - must not be dismissed.

With updated proposals for the 410-ft turbines now lodged with Highland Council, interested parties have until September 24 to make clear their feelings with local authority planners.

While the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust has come under fire by opponents of the wind farm on land at Nigg Hill south of Rarichie Farm, its chairman, Alan MacLean, who lives at Easter Rarichie, yesterday insisted he was "on the fence" regarding the proposal.

Mr MacLean, a leading light with the Black Isle-based agricultural cooperative, HBS Ring Ltd, told the Journal, "The FPDT is purely there to point out the benefits that could accrue if the development comes about. If it's going to come, it's as well to be prepared. I think we should listen to what the developer has to offer and negotiate from a position of strength."

The FPDT has established a website and intends distributing a leaflet outlining some of the benefits that could accrue.

The trust says that would include a £20,000 lump sum to be split between communities most affected and the opportunity to invest in the scheme.

A "community turbine" could be worth £60,000 a year for the first 12-15 years and then up to £200,000 a year for the remaining life of the wind farm, it is claimed.

The trust, says the site, "has been set up to represent the communities and engage with the developer to ensure that the maximum community benefit is obtained and that discussions with the developer happen sooner rather than later".

It flags up the "certainty of very difficult times ahead as regards public funding" and insists volunteers involved with the trust "are gaining nothing from this personally, save the knowledge that if the project progresses, we have been involved in something worthwhile for our peninsula, for today and tomorrow".

An information leaflet "will be sent to every household in the Fearn Peninsula area".

Trust members also include Maureen Ross, who has been heavily involved with the Seaboard Memorial Hall and has served on the local community council. Also involved is James Gordon, a farmer and potato merchant in Portmahomack who has been a community councillor in the area for many years.

Fearn beef, sheep and cereal farmer John Scott is also on the trust.

He has been chairman of Fearn Community Council for the past two years and is currently vice-chairman of Fearn Primary School parent council.

Simon Jackson, who lives at Broomton Farm, Balintore is an agronomist and the contract manager for Robertson Crop Services based in Kildary.

The trust further includes retired builder, Billy Mackenzie, who has served as chairman of Inver Community Council. Peter MacKenzie is an associate in RWM & KM MacKenzie & Co, a local firm of Accountants.

Peter Grant of the Nigg Awareness Group - which insists it is not opposed to renewable energy but regards Nigg Hill as "a totally inappropriate" site - yesterday urged objectors to lodge representations before the September 24 deadline.

The site, he said, is an area of great landscape value, on the north side of the famous Sutors of Cromarty and is surrounded by flat land for miles around, and by the Cromarty and Moray Firths.

He said, "The turbines would be over 1,000ft above sea level.

"Visual impact would be totally unacceptable across the Fearn Peninsula. The communities of Shandwick, Balintore, Hilton, Fearn and Arabella would all be within 2 to 2.75 miles of the turbines. The turbines would also be in full view along several miles of the A9 beside the Cromarty Firth including Invergordon and Saltburn.

The scheme would "unquestionably have a serious long term detrimental impact" on the lives of scores of people living nearby.

"Such proximity to so many properties in the sparsely populated Highland Region is totally unnecessary."

Opponents also point to the area's rich cultural heritage and the impact the scheme could have on the tourism trade.

Highland Council has previously told Falck to resubmit some of its paperwork after complaints they misrepresented the scale of the proposal.

Alasdair MacPherson, project manager at Falck Renewables said, "We are in discussions with the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust about the possibility of including a community turbine as part of the overall development at Nigg Hill, after being approached by the group earlier this year.

"In terms of a timescale for the project this will obviously depend on the planning process."

Anyone wishing to make representations should write to: Director of Planning and Development, Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness,IV3 5NX quoting reference 08/00066/FULCA, or email planning@highland.gov.uk.

Ross-shire Journal Story Link

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

DEVELOPERS behind a five-turbine £10 million wind farm at Nigg say the project has taken a step forward this week with the submission of fresh information about their plans.

Falck Renewables originally lodged plans with the Highland Council for a 10MW wind farm on top of Nigg Hill in Easter Ross in January 2008.

However its plans were set back after it was revealed the company had blundered over a bird survey of the area.

It had surveyed the wrong place to gauge the movements of protected birds including osprey and whooper swans and did not follow guidelines set by environment agency SNH.

This week Falck Renewables announced it has provided the extra information in response to comments received following their initial submission.

Alasdair Macpherson, development manager at Falck Renewables, said: "Since our initial application submission, we have been working with the council and the statutory consultees. We have completed our bird survey work and have also produced additional information which addresses some specific queries they had."

Falck says the wind farm would generate enough clean, green electricity to supply around 6,000 homes and help reduce reliance on existing less environmentally-friendly energy resources.

But campaigners believe the summit of Nigg Hill is a totally inappropriate location to site a wind farm. They say the 410ft high turbines will dominate the entire area, with the highest structure reaching 1,000ft above sea level.

The company currently has five wind farms in Scotland including three wind farms in Highland in operation; Ben Aketil on Skye, Millennium in Glenmoriston, south of Inverness and Kilbraur, near Golspie.

They are offering the opportunity for local people to own a stake in the wind farms via a local wind energy co-operatives.

 North Star Story Link

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

MUCH has been written about the decline of rural communities across Britain as they lose their schools, post offices and shops.

In this region public spending cuts are threatening rural transport initiatives which provide a lifeline in areas where bus services are minimal at best and non-existent at worst.

So it is refreshing to report on three examples of people refusing to accept decline as inevitable and taking the future into their own hands.

Last week we told how residents of Glenurquhart and Strathglass had voted to buy and run a turbine on a proposed wind farm at Corrimony. Soirbheas, the company set up by volunteers to manage the project, estimates the venture would generate revenues of at least £100,000 a year to be ploughed back into schemes such as affordable housing, a community mini bus and new children's play parks, all areas which are likely to suffer as local and central government budgets shrink.

Read full Community Spirit article on the Inverness Courier web site.

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

By Val Sweeney

FEARS of public spending cuts have prompted local residents to safeguard their communities by voting to buy a 100ft wind turbine.

The venture - the first of its kind in the Inverness area - is expected to earn villages in Glenurquhart and Strathglass at least £100,000 a year to spend on projects that are unlikely to attract council or government support as budgets are slashed. These could include building more affordable housing and improving children's play areas in villages from Drumnadrochit to Cannich.

A ballot revealed overwhelming local support for the idea of buying a turbine as part of a £13 million five-turbine scheme - which has yet to be given planning permission - on farmland owned by the Girvan family at Corrimony.

Read the full article on the Ross-shire Journal site >

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

Ross-shire Journal - Plans to be drawn up for wind farm cash windfall

by Lynne Bradshaw

Community feedback is being sought on how a cluster of Ross-shire communities should spend an £80,000 annual payout over 23 years.

Scottish and Southern Energy, the company behind the new wind farm at Fairburn, has set up a community fund to benefit the villages neighbouring the development.

The windfall has been split into two phases, with £160,000 being paid out to seven different communities over the next two years.

Read the full article (360k jpeg)

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

PROPOSALS for a multimillion-pound wind farm on Fearn peninsula are set to be revived within a matter of weeks. Falck Renewables initially unveiled proposals for a five-turbine development on land at Nigg Hill almost exactly three years ago, sparking a major grassroots campaign driven by locals opposed to the scheme.

At that time, the proposal for what was described as a "community-scale wind farm" was valued at between £8m and £10m. It was claimed it would have the potential to generate enough 'green' electricity to supply up to 6,000 homes and help reduce reliance on less environmentally-friendly energy resources.

Read full article on Ross-shire Journal site >

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website

The Nigg Awareness Group (NAG) is the main voice of those in favour of the Hill of Nigg being left as it is, with farmland and cycle-routes but no further development. Their website contains information regarding the proposals as well as information on the cultural & natural heritage of the area, as well as information on the richness of the peninsula for tourism. It furthermore contains information as to how members of the public can get involved should they be opposed to the development.

This feed was drawn from the Fearn Peninsula Development Trust website