Green groups blow up a storm over turbine rule

Published on Monday 12 May 2008 22:12

ENVIRONMENT bodies have hit out at plans to allow wind turbines to be built only on homes that are more than 300ft apart.

The Scottish Government's consultation on permitted development rights for microgeneration – which includes wind turbines and solar panels on homes – closed yesterday.

New rules set out by the government would give automatic planning permission for wind turbines on homes, but only if the house is 328ft from the next residential property.

Friends of the Earth Scotland (FES) and Scottish Renewables, the green energy trade body, have written to the Scottish Government asking for that rule to be relaxed.

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of FES, said: "This is a ridiculous disincentive to people to use that technology."

David Cameron, the chief technical officer at Scottish Renewables said:

"If we get the rules wrong, it could be disastrous, practically excluding many technologies from urban areas."

Responses to the draft regulations will be put to MSPs later.