Absentee Scottish Highland landlords criticised for 'cashing in' as giant wind farm looms

The Ballach windfarm for a site at Strathfarrer crosses two estates.

Absentee landowners have been accused on ‘cashing in’ on a huge wind farm proposed for land in a Highland beauty spot - while local communities face living in its shadows.

A total of 36 turbines with blade tip lengths of up to 230m have been proposed for a hill at Strathfarrar by German-based energy company EnergyKontor.

The site of the planned windfarm from German firm EnergyKontor at Strathfarrer in the Highlands. PIC: Peter Dunn. | Peter Dunn

The land for the proposed Ballach Windfarm is split between Erchless Estate, owned by the executors of the late Erik Maurice William Robson, a financier and heir, and Farley Estate, owned by members of the Walduck family of the Imperial London Hotels group.

It is the second time that a renewables firm has eyed the land with a proposal for roughly the same site pulled in 2015.

Lyndsey Ward, founder member of Communities B4 Power Companies, said: “People are so angry. These estate owners are not going to be impacted by this development on a day-to-day basis like their neighbours are going to be. Good neighbours don’t do this.

“They can be under no illusion how the communities would feel about them doing this because we have fought against this so hard in the past. They have gone against the communities once again.”

A meeting was held in Kilmorack Village Hall on Friday night to discuss the proposals, with the area under a deluge of planned energy developments given SSEN’s planned upgrade of the overhead line from nearby Beauly to Peterhead and Beauly to Spittal near Wick, with a 400Kv substation also planned close to the village.

Ms Ward said: “The change I find now is that it is not that people are really worried about where they live, it is the fact that we don’t need these developments and we are seeing iconic areas of Scotland absolutely trashed so that global investment companies can make a profit through the export of electricity.”

READ MORE: Scottish island ‘sacrificed’ by windfarms as 130 turbines planned

The proposed Ballach wind farm site sits on the edge of the Glen Strathfarrar National Scenic Area and is surrounded by three parcels of special landscape area.

Mike Spencer-Nairn, owner of Struy Estate, owns a log cabin village on his land and says the 'wildnerness' experience enjoyed by his guests with several cabins to directly look out on the windfarm, if it is approved. | Contributed

Michael Spencer-Nairn, owner of 8,000-acre Struy Estate, runs Eagle Brae log cabin village and has ten log cabins on his land.

He said: “Guests come here for that wilderness experience. Unfortunately this wind farm will be in direct line of sight from four of these cabins. It will very much change the character of experience here.

“If this wind farm goes ahead, the main aspect facing these cabins will be these 230m-high turbines dotted across the mountain. I am strongly against it.

"Of course, we need renewable energy in the mix. But I strongly feel that these wind turbines should be offshore or on rolling agricultural land - and not on sites where the scenic value is the primary asset.

"Given the scenic value of the mountains and glens here, I strongly believe this is the wrong place for something like this. I am a resident landlord here and there will never be a wind farm on Struy estate as long as I am here.

"Unfortunately, there seems to be a trend of non-resident landlords cashing in on renewables. While they may spend 360 days a year somewhere else, it is the locals who are left picking up the pieces and dealing with the impact of this industrialisation of the landscape."

The Scotsman contacted EnergieKontor, the Robson family and the Walduck family several times to request comment.