Good news for eagles as Scottish wind farm plans are rejected

Would have posed a significant threat to birds
July 2011: The Scottish Government's decision to refuse consent for a 14-turbine wind-farm at Stacain, near Inveraray in Argyll has been welcomed by RSPB Scotland.

DANGER: Golden eagles are among the birds that would have been put at risk had the plans gone ahead

This is the second time that Ministers have turned down the project, following a six-year planning process involving two formal Public Local Inquiries.

Developer Bagmoor Wind's proposal would have been located within the Glen Etive and Glen Fyne Special Protection Area (SPA) for golden eagles and would have posed a significant threat to the birds, due to habitat loss and risk of collision with turbines.

Six-year fight to stop wind farm proposals
Aedan Smith, RSPB Scotland head of planning said: ‘We are very pleased with Scottish Ministers' decision. It is the right one for wildlife and renewable energy. This proposal would have caused serious harm to golden eagles and to the reputation of wind farms, making it more difficult to deliver the renewable energy we need to tackle climate change.

‘We were particularly pleased to see robust opposition to the proposals from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). RSPB Scotland, SNH and the local community have had to invest a major amount of time and money to fight this completely inappropriate proposal for more than years. It is enormously frustrating that we needed to do this when our efforts, and those of developers, should be going towards delivering renewables in the right place that do not harm Scotland's precious wildlife and habitats.'