Two pieces of news from WilloWind: first, relief for the residents of Barrhill, as Corwar Wind Farm is finally rejected at appeal. Second, WilloWind is to close its Edinburgh office, and say farewell to Martin Davie as CEO. Read on for both press releases:
Press Release: Corwar Wind Farm Appeal Dismissed. Willowind Energy Ltd was informed on 19th February 2014 that an appeal against the decision of South Ayrshire Council to refuse planning consent for an 8 turbine scheme for Corwar Wind Farm with a total site capacity of 16.4MW, was dismissed by Michael J P Cunliffe, a Reporter appointed by the Scottish Ministers. The Reporter concluded that the scheme would have significant adverse impacts which would outweigh its benefits, and that it would not accord with the development plan as a whole. He decided that were no material considerations which would in his view justify granting planning permission in the face of that conclusion.
A WilloWind Energy Ltd spokesperson said “We are extremely disappointed at the Reporter’s decision as we believed that we had very strong grounds for appeal. Intensive investigation and analysis is undertaken to identify appropriate sites for all our projects and we still consider this site to be an excellent location for the size of wind farm that we proposed.” An appeal against the refusal of planning permission by South Ayrshire Council on 29th August 2013 was submitted to Scottish Ministers on 27th November 2013.
More details on the reporter’s comments:
In rejecting the appeal the reporter appointed by the Scottish Government referred to the landscape and visual effects of the turbines including cumulative impacts as well as the effects on residential amenity and the contribution to renewable energy targets. The reporter states: “Corwar would exert a greater influence over the appreciation of the valley landscape as appreciated when travelling east along the A714 since it would close the view to the head of the valley. “It would be intermittently visible between Pinwherry and Barrhill and again between Barrhill and the limit of the landscape character type. “The section of the B7027 south-east of Barrhill also
offers a good view of the landscape characteristics of the valley. “I consider that the proposed turbines would be clearly visible from here and would appear out of scale with the characteristic valley features.” The reporter went on to say: “In my opinion the additional effect of the Corwar Turbines over and above that of Mark Hill would be disproportionate to their number.” He added: “I conclude that significant cumulative effects would be experienced within about 12 kilometres of the site.”
Press release: WilloWind Energy announces closure of Edinburgh office and departure of CEO
WilloWind Energy has today announced the closure of its Edinburgh office as part of a wider restructuring that will also see the departure of Martin Davie as CEO. The changes come following an in depth review of WilloWind’s operational structure. The new structure being put in place will ensure the most effective delivery of the organisation’s strategic goals. WilloWind Director Suki Atwal will take over responsibility for the operations in Scotland with immediate effect. Suki was raised and educated in Glasgow and has spent nearly two decades working in energy and infrastructure including renewable energy. Suki has been a Director of WilloWind since its formation in February 2010. Management of existing sites is unaffected by these changes. A spokesperson for WilloWind Energy said: “We would like to thank Martin for his commitment and passion in taking the organisation to where it is today and wish him all the best for the future. We now look forward to the next stage in the company’s development and the delivery of a number of exciting projects across the country.”
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Save Straiton for Scotland 
great news! Thanks for keeping us so well informed
Well done to everyone who’s had a hand in this small victory and may it give everybody hope and confidence of more to come.
I and my wife, of course, are very happy at this result after having personally put in substantial effort in fighting this obscene proposal: but, we would like to add that there is no such thing as a small victory in this fight . We are the owners of Corwar house, and beleive me, this is a massive victory from where we are looking.
Point taken, Alistair! Congratulations on preserving a corner of Southwest Scotland for all our sakes.