Swarclett campaigner hits out at ‘relentless march’ of Caithness wind farms
Highland Council’s willingness to accept wind farms across large tracts of Caithness over the years has become “a noose around the neck” of the landscape and rural communities, a campaigner has claimed.
Tony Shaw, who is among a group of residents opposed to Swarclett Wind Farm at Bowertower, said: “It is as though someone has gone out on a campaign to advertise Caithness as a place for developers to stick their turbines.”
Renewable energy company Wind2 is proposing to build two turbines, each with a maximum blade-tip height of 149.9m, on land between Bower and Durran, along with a battery energy storage system.
A Facebook group called No to Swarclett now has more than 100 members.
Mr Shaw pointed to a colour-coded Highland Council map of Caithness and Sutherland from 2020 entitled Spatial Framework for Onshore Wind Energy, indicating “areas with potential for wind farm development” and “areas of significant protection”.
A third category is “areas where wind farms will not be acceptable”. Some of these are in Sutherland, notably the north-west, but there are none in Caithness.
Mr Shaw, who is retired after a career in IT, said: “A plan relating to permitted wind farm areas was produced in 2016. It was revised in 2020 – much to the detriment of Caithness rural residents in particular.
“I’d been shocked, on returning to Caithness in 2017, to see whole areas covered in turbines but what now seems more shocking is the way in which the county appears to have been targeted as an area for their continued proliferation.
“The attempt at continuing the relentless march eastwards from the Causewaymire of these triffid-like structures seems to be without concern for either the landscape or the people who inhabit the area.
“Highland Council’s early adoption of turbines has now become a noose around the neck of the Caithness landscape and its rural residents.
“Pressures from Scottish and UK governments along with the Scottish Government’s reduction on council fund allocation has meant that Highland Council has been caught in a sophisticated pincer movement. To their left are the troops of unrealistic net-zero fanaticism. To the right the Scottish Government exerting increasing control through council central budget reduction.”
On community benefit funds, Mr Shaw said: “Nobody wants to own up to accepting bribes but that is what community benefit is. Much worse, though, is the role that it can play in dividing communities or simply legitimising the idea that anything can be bought – even the quality of life of rural residents.”
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He added: “Our local concerns regarding the two-turbine Swarclett wind farm may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things but it is the ridiculousness of the proposal that serves to highlight both how unnecessary and unreasonable the proposal is. It is simply a money-making venture between a wind farm company and a landowner.
“In what world does it seem reasonable to place two structures the height of 40-storey buildings within 800m of four properties and within 1500m of a further six properties?
“Such an application is only possible because the current Highland Council plan has enabled it.
“Nor indeed is there any need for any further wind farm developments in Caithness – only demand from others who will be unaffected by such developments.”
Mr Shaw said the revision of Highland Council’s wind farm permitted areas map in 2020 “effectively declared open season for wind farm developers in Caithness” and asked whether it should now be revisited.
Residents in Wick, Thurso, Castletown, Lybster and Halkirk are “insulated from the risk of nearby turbine intrusion”, he pointed out. “Not so the many distributed rural communities that so characterise Caithness, such as those around Bower, Watten, Spittal and many more.
“What justification is there for treating these rural residents with such disregard?”
Highland Council has been approached for comment.