Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated from Councillors Mary-Jean Devon, George Freeman and Robert G MacIntyre.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He outlined the procedure that would be followed and the Head of Governance and Law identified those who wished to speak.

PLANNING

Richard Kerr presented the application on behalf of the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services.  He advised that this was a major detailed application under the government’s planning hierarchy for a 15 turbine wind farm on land at Ardchonnel on the eastern side of Loch Awe, almost opposite the settlement of Dalavich. The proposed turbines would be 111m in height to the vertical blade tip and the site would be accessed from the A83 north of Auchindrain via an extension of an existing wind farm access route, which already served the operational An Suidhe wind farm, which lay to the south of the application site.  With the aid of slides he highlighted the extent of the application site which was shown in red with the access track leading off to the A83 to the south.  The An Suidhe wind farm could be seen to the south of the site in the open area enclosed by forestry.  He also showed the site in the context of the adopted local plan.  The site and its access lay within the white area, which denoted the land as being ‘very sensitive countryside’ for development management purposes.  For the purposes of onshore turbines, he confirmed that the adopted local plan contained a map providing spatial guidance for the location of wind farms with a generating capacity in excess of 20 MW.  The site lay within a ‘potentially constrained area’ as depicted in pink on this plan.  He advised that this position was under review as part of the forthcoming Local Development Plan (LDP), which would, in time, replace the adopted 2009 local plan and which proposed extended areas of search on both sides of Loch Awe for turbines but only up to 80m in height.  Given that the renewables policies of the proposed LDP were widely contested, he stated that they were due to be considered by the government Reporter who was to conduct the Examination of the plan.  As there was no certainty as to whether they would survive as proposed, or could be modified or replaced by the Reporter, he confirmed that the draft plan could not be accorded material weight in the consideration of this application at this point in the plan-making process, and therefore the provisions of the adopted 2009 local plan must prevail in this case.  He pointed out that Members would be aware that the local plan was augmented by guidance in the Council’s ‘Landscape Wind Energy Capacity Study’ which identified the upland above Loch Awe as having ‘Medium’ sensitivity to large scale wind turbine development, with some residual potential to accept further wind farms without giving rise to unacceptable cumulative impact.  However, he stated, that further capacity was not to be found uniformly across this landscape character type given that there was recognition that skylines formed by the hills on the edge of the ‘Craggy Upland’ would be more sensitive, due to their visibility from the more settled loch shores and valleys, and to cumulative impacts from the presence of multiple developments.  He advised that the Study recommended that development should be sited so as to avoid land forming an immediate backdrop and setting to Loch Awe and its settled fringes and to Loch Avich.  It also recommended that cumulative effects from multiple developments, particularly where they contrast in scale or layout, should be avoided given these could impact negatively on the perception of the wider landscape setting of Loch Awe as appreciated from the loch itself and from the road along West Lochaweside.  With the aid of further presentation slides he showed the location of the site from the air with the operational An Suidhe wind farm to the south.  He advised that the relationship of the site with Loch Awe and Loch Avich should be noted in the context of the various locations which Members had the opportunity to visit yesterday.   He explained that the access to the site made its way up from the A83 through the area of forestry plantation and trailed off to the south as it reached open moorland to serve the existing An Suidhe turbines and would necessitate the construction of an additional spur to the north in order to serve the proposed turbine locations.  He pointed out on a further slide that the site lay on the open ground in the centre of a photograph which had been taken from the West Lochaweside road north of Dalavich.   It was situated toward the upper part of the light green area below the rocky crest along the skyline.  The existing An Suidhe turbines lay along the skyline on the right hand side.  These were 80m tall, rather than the 111m turbines currently proposed, and lay further away from this viewpoint.  He stated that there would be a marked contrast in both height of the turbines and speed of rotation, with the lower turbines being furthest away in views available from West Lochaweside.  He advised that upland moorland either side of Loch Awe was under pressure both from encroachment of forestry plantation as well the development of land for wind farms.  Accordingly, residual undeveloped areas such as this application site have value as open areas free of forestry and turbines which help to sustain the foraging and breeding of upland birds.   He stated that although the site was extensive, the proposed turbines have been positioned off the crest towards the western side of the site.  He pointed out that the location of turbines towards the east of the site was abandoned in the early stages of the design process in order a) to avoid golden eagle interests along the ridge, and b) to avoid unwelcome visual influence being shed eastwards towards sensitive locations, such as the Inveraray Designed Landscape and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.