Decision details

INTELLIGENT LAND INVESTMENTS LTD: ERECTION OF WIND TURBINE (225KW, 45.9 HEIGHT TO TIP) WITH TEMPORARY ACCESS TRACK AND SUBSTATION: HIGH UGADALE, CAMPBELTOWN (REF: 12/02281/PP)

Decision Maker: Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee

Decision status: For Determination

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decisions:

The Area Team Leader spoke to the terms of the report advising that this proposal is for the erection of one 45.9m (to blade tip) wind turbine with a generating capacity of 225kw to provide electricity to be exported to the national grid.  He referred to corrections to Appendix A, section  B and C of the report of handling and advised that the woodland shelter belt to the east of the site had been subject to extensive felling and no longer provided the level of containment expressed in the report.  He also referred to section G of Appendix A and advised that the statement that visualisation provided by the Applicant in April 2013 showing the turbine outwith the application site boundary was in fact incorrect.  He advised that a subsequent site visit by Officers had confirmed that the latest visualisations are in fact accurate in so far as they relate to the position of the turbine.  He advised that the assessing Officer’s misinterpretation of the turbine position within the submitted visualisations was minor in terms of distance involved and as such had no significant consequences for the assessment of the landscape and visual impacts of the development as set out in the report of handling.  The proposal is located within a Rural Opportunity Area (ROA) control zone as per the Argyll and Bute Local Plan.  The ROA has been subject to a Landscape Capacity Study and the steading known as High Ugadale has been identified as potentially suitable for housing.  This wind turbine would sit close to this site some 400m to the north.  The proposal is located some 360m north west of an existing farm cluster at High Ugadale and approximately 2 km south of the settlement of Saddell.  The site lies within landscape character type 20 (Rocky Mosaic) as identified by the Council’s Landscape Wind Energy Capacity Study with type 6 (Upland Forest Moor Mosaic) directly to the west.  At 45.9m the turbine proposal is at the upper end of the small-medium typology.  The study considers that landscape sensitivity is High/Medium for the small-medium typology in this particular landscape character type with very limited opportunities for development.  There have been no objections from statutory consultees, however, the Area Roads Manager has deferred decision given the Applicant has not provided sufficient information on the proposed transport arrangements for delivering the turbine parts and plant without damaging the public road.  There have been 12 objections from third parties.  It is recommended that the application is refused for the reasons stated in the report.

 

Decision

 

Agreed to refuse planning permission for the following reasons:-

 

1.                  The proposal is to site a 45.9m high wind turbine within a relatively complex and intimate landscape type which the ‘Argyll & Bute Landscape Wind Energy Capacity Study’ considers to have ‘high – medium’ landscape sensitivity to the ‘small-medium’ typology assessed in the study. The LWECS identifies that small-medium typology turbines of between 35m and 50m will be difficult to assimilate in areas of smaller scale landform, with smaller scale patterns of land use, as they are likely to exert visual influence over wider landscape settings. The scale of the turbine proposed is at the upper end of this typology and would produce a focal point disproportionate to the scale of the landscape by virtue of its height, its rotor diameter and the motion of the blades. Development on this scale would detract from the landscape character of its immediate surroundings and it presence would impact adversely on the scenic qualities of the wider landscape designated as ‘Area of Panoramic Quality’. The foregoing environmental considerations are of such magnitude that they cannot be reasonably offset by the projected direct or indirect benefits which a development of this scale would make to the achievement of climate change related commitments. Having due regard to the above, it is considered that this proposal would have a significant adverse impact on landscape character, and would exert an unwelcome and inappropriate visual presence in the landscape as experienced by users of the B842, and would degrade designated scenic assets within the wider ‘Area of Panoramic Quality’. It is therefore inconsistent with the provisions of the Scottish Planning Policy and Scottish Government’s Specific Advice Sheet on Onshore Wind Farms;  Policies STRAT SI 1: Sustainable Development; Policy STRAT DC 8: Landscape & Development Control; Policy STRAT RE 1: Wind Farm/Wind Turbine Development of the ‘Argyll & Bute Structure Plan’ (approved 2002), to Policy LP ENV 1:  Development Impact on the General Environment; LP ENV 10: Development Impact on Areas of Panoramic Quality; LP ENV 19 Development Setting, Layout and Design (including Appendix A Sustainable Siting and Design Principles) and LP REN 1 Wind Farms and Wind Turbines; of the ‘Argyll & Bute Local Plan’ (2009); and the ‘Argyll & Bute Landscape Wind Energy Capacity Study’ (2012).

 

2.                  The proposal will involve the conveyance of abnormal loads along the B842 a route which is sub-standard in width and alignment. The road infrastructure along this route is also subject to known deficiencies, including structural condition of the Smerby, Ardnacross and Altnbeist Bridges and it does not lend itself to movements of abnormal loads.   In view of the geometry of the road, which does not lend itself to the swept path of large vehicles, there is the prospect of serious damage to these structures occasioned by collision as a result of the transportation of abnormal loads or the weight of construction vehicles, which would present a serious threat to continued accessibility by road, as the failure of either of these structures would be likely to precipitate closure of the route with the consequent isolation of Peninver, Saddell and Carradale from Campbeltown.

 

In the absence of any satisfactory mitigation being advanced for the risk presented to the route by the type of traffic associated with the proposal, the development does not benefit form an identified satisfactory means of access for either construction or for decommissioning purposes, contrary to the provisions of Policies LP TRAN 4: New and Existing, Public Roads and Private Access Regimes and LP TRAN 5: Off-Site Highway Improvements of the Argyll & Bute Local Plan.

 

(Reference: Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services dated 2 May 2013, submitted)

Publication date: 29/05/2013

Date of decision: 22/05/2013

Decided at meeting: 22/05/2013 - Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee

Accompanying Documents: