ELECTRICITY ACT 1989

ELECTRICITY (APPLICATIONS FOR CONSENT) REGULATIONS 1990
THE ELECTRICITY WORKS (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT)

(SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2000
PROPOSED GORDONBUSH WIND FARM

Further to Landscape's formal objection to the above proposal, dated 13 October 2003, I now write to comment on the Supplementary Information provided by SSE Generation Limited to the original Environmental Statement submitted in June 2003.

It is surprising, and disappointing, that the Developers have not taken the opportunity to clarify any of the important traffic and access issues outlined in my letter of 13 October, which remain of great concern to local residents and all those living to the north of Brora dependent on the A9 trunk road.

A detailed response to the section on ornithology is attached at Annex 1. The new ornithological data and assessments do not provide the necessary assurances that there would be no more than an 'acceptable' level of damage or disturbance to either the scheduled bird species on the proposed wind farm site itself, or those (and other) species on the adjacent SPA/Ramsar site. In more than one instance the need for further research to more accurately gauge the likely effects of the proposed development is recognised. Why, then, has the Application been resubmitted before this essential work has been carried out?

In the context of ornithology, I would draw your attention to two relevant European cases (in Germany and Greece - see Annex 2) which have come to Landscape's notice since the original application was submitted. The first, in which the German Government has been asked to explain the need for a threat to important bird populations on and outwith an adjacent SPA, has many parallels with the Gordonbush situation. The second provides a long-awaited determination by the European Court of Justice that the term 'deliberate' in the EC Habitats Directive (and, by inference, the Birds Directive) includes the making of a planning decision in the knowledge that death, damage or disturbance would be likely to occur as a result of that decision. This has legal ramifications for both the Scottish Executive and Regional Councils where planning permission is being considered for developments affecting EC priority habitats and scheduled species.

Thanks to the help of local archaeologists from the Clyne Heritage Society, the section on archaeology now provides a much better illustration of the value of this site in a local and Scottish historical context. So much of this information is new that an assessment of its true value demands further investigation and analysis.

The Developers' contradiction of SNH's comments on wild land would be comical if, sadly, it did not demonstrate their complete lack of feeling for the natural environment. There are a number of places in the East Sutherland hills where there is no obvious visible evidence of human agency. This provides an experience which is very hard to evaluate in any conventional way. The 'wild land' concept developed by SNH applies to larger landscapes where such purity would be harder to achieve, but the presence of an intrusive development clearly visible from an area of wild land would completely negate the objective. This is no doubt why SNH selected vantage points within the wild land area to assess the visual impact of the wind farm. For the Developers to argue that adjacent wild land could still be viewed untarnished from the development is ludicrous.

I note that a copy of this letter and attachments will be sent by you to the Highland Council In view of the proximity of the proposed wind farm site to internationally important bird areas, its negative impact on an EC 'priority habitat' and the recent European casework referred to above, I am sending a copy to the Environment Directorate of the European Commission. They should be aware of this totally unnecessary threat to a number of scheduled species within a priority habitat, given that wind farm applications in Scotland already far exceed the number needed to meet renewable energy targets from this sector.