Fife Council calls for ban on wind farm applications

A SECOND Scottish council has called for a temporary suspension on wind farm applications to stop inappropriate bids.

It has been claimed developers are ignoring Fife Council’s guidelines on approved sites, and were swamping planners with ‘opportunistic’ applications.

The National Grid is also struggling to cope with the energy being produced by existing windfarms north of the border as it waits for the transmission infrastructure to be upgraded.

Fife Council leader Alex Rowley said: “The pressure being put on our planners is coming from the sheer number of wind turbine applications that are currently being submitted across all parts of Fife.

“We have already pinpointed areas of search across the Kingdom following extensive consultations where turbines could be potentially sited.

“However, developers are simply ignoring these when making applications which, in turn, is making life more complex for our planning teams.”

He added: “At the moment too many developers are simply being opportunistic with applications for areas that are not appropriate for wind turbines, which is taking up valuable planning time.”

The council is preparing a public consultation on the approved sites and wants a moratorium on new applications until the people have had their say.

Fife’s move comes two months after Aberdeenshire Council asked for a six-month moratorium after becoming overwhelmed by a “wind rush” from developers.