NORoS NEWSLETTER

February 2025

Many of you will already know that we face much bad news on the wind farm front with both the Strath Oykel Wind Farm 11 turbines and the Garvary Wind Farm (above Invershin) 24 turbines, having been approved by the Scottish Government in January.

The ‘Allt an Tuir Energy Park’ above Rosehall was also submitted to the Energy Consents Unit as a formal application this month with objections due by the 28th March. More on this below.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

For anyone who is feeling confused about the many proposed and approved applications around the Kyle of Sutherland, both Meall Buidhe and Strath Oykel have been approved, but with no current access route or commencement dates. The following developments are currently either in planning or scoping:

In planning 

Allt an Tuir Energy Park - 8 turbines at 200m, 1 turbine at 180m; BESS units; 22 hectares of solar panels.

In scoping

Coille Beith - 19 turbines at 200m

Braelangwell - 18 turbines at 180m

Balblair Wind Farm - 8 turbines at 180m

In pre-scoping

Inveroykel   29 turbines with a maximum height of 200m.

Invercassley Wind Farm, possible 22 turbines up to 230m, plus battery storage.

One of the scoping documents for the Braelangwell Wind Farm proposals at the following web address contains a helpful visual guide to the cumulative impact that just some of these multiple approved and planned developments would have on the Kyle of Sutherland and its headwaters:  https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00005215 (The map is Document 56270).

For supporters of NORoS living outside the area it might also be helpful to know how prominent this issue has been in recent editions of The Northern Times which has run numerous incisive articles about local opposition to the energy developments, including new super sized pylons, taking place in the area and the risks involved in battery storage facilities. In addition to this local media exposure NORoS has been active in developing a wider media media presence with coverage in the following outlets: BBC Alba, STV, The Scottish Daily Express, The Times and The Herald Scotland.

Meeting with local MSP Maree Todd

On 13th February NORoS organized a public meeting with Maree Todd. This was held in Bonar Bridge village hall, chaired by Tisi Dutton, and attended by over 150 people. Local residents made their anger felt about the lack of community representation in decisions on large scale energy infrastructure developments and the dramatic impact these will have on communities and their livelihoods as well as nature and biodiversity. The MSP agreed to investigate a number of issues and return to report to the community. The meeting was written up in The Northern Times and will feature in the forthcoming issue of The Kyle Chronicle.

WHERE THINGS STAND

Strath Oykel Decision

The decision by the Scottish Government to overrule the recommendations of their own Reporters at public enquiry and approve the Strath Oykel Wind Farm has angered many people including Highland Councillors. Here again the issues have been canvassed extensively in The Northern Times and beyond and there is discussion taking place about a Judicial Review concerning the decision. This is a complex point of law and an expensive process which is currently being assessed by the Highland Council.

URGENT - Allt an Tuir Energy Park.

This development with turbines, battery storage (BESS) and solar array would stand high above Rosehall and opposite the equally massive Strath Oykel Wind Farm, bookending the head of the Kyle and dominating the Oykel and Cassley basins. Few details are given in the application about the BESS and the application states that this vital information will be provided after planning is approved! Chemists, including Bill Lockyer a local resident who spoke at the public meeting, have made it clear that battery storage is a new technology with an attendant fire risk. In cases of the rare event of thermal runaway the batteries could produce intense heat and propagate toxic and combustible gasses which spread on contact with water and can kill vegetation and, in some concentrations, cause death to humans. There is no viable fire protection service in our area which would be able to put out such a fire before it caused devastating damage to the rivers, the environment and the people and creatures who call the strath home.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1)    Objections. Please access and examine the EIA at https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00005008 and submit an objection to the Allt an Tuir Energy Park. This is urgent and all objections must be submitted to the Energy Consents Unit by 28th March 2025. In a separate document NORoS is providing detailed guidance and a link to access the EIA, along with suggestions about key points on which you may care to object, how to go about making your objection and where to send it.

2)    Funding support.    Please support NORoS in our activities. We are a small group of local residents putting in much of our own time to a David and Goliath battle against large corporations, many of them based outside the UK. We need your HELP. This could be time and energy if you are able, or it could be a financial contribution, however small.  You can contact NORoS to volunteer on this email address noringofsteel@gmail.com and/or donate to NORoS via a bank transfer to Bank of Scotland, Account name: NOROS, Sort code: 80 22 60, Account number: 17619760, ensuring you give your name or email us so that it can be acknowledged. Or by cheque, which should be made out to NOROS and posted to The NORoS treasurer, The Old  Library, Altass, Lairg, IV27 4EU. NORoS and its supporters have in the past funded specialist advice to enable us to make well argued and highly specific objections to wind farm applications, enquiries and reviews. To do this, and to employ media consultants and other experts to get the message out, we need financial support and would be profoundly grateful for any donation you can afford.

Thank you from the NORoS Committee!