A wind turbine developer has accused Aberdeenshire planners of misleading councillors after they rejected his proposal for a mast in the Buchan countryside.
Gavin Catto, director of Edinburgh-based Green Cat Renewables, was in Peterhead this week to speak to members of the Buchan area committee.
His client Roy Mathieson from Elgin had hoped to build a 326ft turbine at Hillhead, Bonnykelly, New Pitsligo, but the application was rejected over fears it would interfere with two key radars nearby.
Members were told by planning officers that the mast could be “blanked” from radar screens, but they would prefer to use that solution for another application.
Planning officer David Maclennan said: “Only one turbine or the other can be ‘blanked’ – and the council indicated to Nats (the national air traffic control service) that the other project would be more suitable in landscape terms.”
Now Mr Catto claims the advice was confusing for councillors, who may not have realised the implications of their decision.
He said:”I have great sympathy for the councillors in that this is a complex and at the moment rapidly evolving area and the advice provided to them from the planning service was far from clear.
“I don’t think all the councillors realised that they were in effect being asked to choose between the two projects.
“I can understand why the planning service may have wanted a decision like this to be taken by the elected members, but I would have thought it would have been better to have the two projects heard at the same committee, so that the councillors could make that decision based on full knowledge of both projects.”
However a council spokeswoman denied that members were misled.
She said: “Councillors were provided with a report in advance of the meeting which made clear that the blanking solution can only be applied to any one development within a three mile area and that the planning service considered an alternate development site more appropriate for this solution.
“The application for the alternate site was considered by planners and it was submitted to the council three months prior to the application at Bonnykelly.”