Development of further wind farms in The Cabrach in Moray would breach human rights, campaigners claim
A group seeking to prevent the development of wind farms in a “fragile” community claim that building more would be in breach of their human rights.
The Cabrach near Dufftown is currently home to 77 operational turbines.
However, if all current windfarm applications are approved in the area, including those already built, The Cabrach will become Scotland’s largest onshore wind energy park, with 216 turbines across eight independent developments all within a 10km radius.
The Saving The Cabrach group say that the “unrestrained assault” on their community by wind farm operators is contrary to Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to respect for family life and the home.
It follows the publication of the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report into the economic, social, and cultural rights in the Highlands and Islands, which said that many people felt “unheard, disenfranchised, abandoned, and forgotten”.
Patti Nelson, Chair of The Cabrach Community Association, said: “The Cabrach Community Association maintains a positive, hopeful outlook for The Cabrach.”
She added: “But The Cabrach faces an unfair, unbalanced situation whereby its community is besieged by an unprecedented concentration of onshore wind farm developments which is genuinely threatening the ability of local businesses, individuals, and families to live and work in the area.
“The rapid roll-out of new developments over the past decade has now reached saturation level.
“A handful of absentee landowners stand to grossly profit, at the material expense of the local community.
“The comparison to a modern-day Highland Clearances is not unfounded or exaggerated.”
The Cabrach was once home to a population of over 1000. Today, that number is less than 100.
The Cabrach Trust, formed in 2013, is seeking to regenerate the area as a thriving, sustainable community with the newly-opened Cabrach Distillery central to that vision.
But concerns have been raised that further wind fam developments will undermine those aims.
Jonathan Christie, The Cabrach Trust Chief Executive, said: “We have consistently raised our concerns with elected officials, ministers, and planning authorities, but at the heart of this is the Scottish Government’s seemingly inaccessible Energy Consents Unit which fails to respond to issues and the legitimate concerns of communities like ours which feel under siege.
“The Cabrach community feels cripplingly alone in trying to deal with this situation, a feeling compounded by the silence from decision makers, and when the Scottish Human Rights Commission talks about people being disenfranchised and unheard, our community knows exactly how that feels.
“On the basis that the Scottish Government are taking seriously the findings of the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report, there is a clear and urgent need for a review of its energy policies, with an associated moratorium on further onshore wind developments in The Cabrach, before communities like ours, so vital to Scotland’s diverse cultural and social fabric, are damaged beyond repair.”
Mr Christie’s comments come after the trust wrote to MSPs and councillors to reemphasise that there was no justification for any further wind farms in the area.
The letter said: “The focus should be on natural heritage, community regeneration, and a just transition.”
