Beaufort Wind Limited: Proposal of Application Notice for Development of Up to 7 Wind Turbines (Up to 149.9 Metres to Tip) and Associated Infrastructure. the Proposed Development Will Also Include Works to Decommission and Restore the Existing Operational Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, Making Use of Some of the Existing Infrastructure on Site: Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, Taynuilt (Ref: 25/00490/Pan)
Argyll and Bute Council · 21 May 2025
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee — 21 May 2025 and its agenda
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Classification: OFFICIAL Argyll and Bute Council Development and Economic Growth PROPOSAL OF APPLICATION NOTICE (PAN) ____________________________________________________________________________ Reference: 25/00490/PAN Applicant: Beaufort Wind Limited Proposal: Proposal of Application Notice for: Development of up to 7 wind turbines (up to 149.9 metres to tip) and associated infrastructure. The proposed development will also include works to decommission and restore the existing operational Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, making use of some of the existing infrastructure on site Site Address: Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, Taynuilt ____________________________________________________________________________ 1.0 INTRODUCTION Proposal of Application Notices only relate to National and Major Applications, as defined by the Government’s planning hierarchy, and are a statutory requirement prior to the submission of a further associated planning application, in line with the provisions of the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006. The PAN submission marks the start of a minimum 12 week period to allow for community consultation before an application can be lodged. This PAN submission was made valid on 28.3.2025. In considering this item, Members should restrict comments to issues relating to the material considerations which may be relevant in the determination of the proposed development and should refrain from expressing opinion as to the likely acceptability of development in advance of any subsequent application being presented for determination. Any opinions or views expressed by Councillors at the pre-application stage must be made mindful of the overarching requirements of fairness, impartiality and of keeping an open mind. The process provides opportunity for Officers to give feedback to the prospective applicant on issues which Members would wish to see addressed within the planning application submission. The submitted information includes: • Proposal of Application Notice • Location Plan • Copy of newspaper advert The Proposal of Application Notice describes the proposed development as “Development of up to 7 wind turbines (up to 149.9 metres to tip) and associated infrastructure. The proposed development will also include works to decommission and restore the existing operational Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, making use of some of the existing infrastructure on site”. The Applicant has confirmed the following consultation steps have been undertaken:
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Classification: OFFICIAL a) Local Councillors for the Oban North and Lorn Ward were notified, prior to the PAN being submitted. b) The following Community Councils were notified on the 25 March 2025, prior to the PAN being submitted: Taynuilt, Connel, Kilmore and Kilbride, Ardchattan, Avich and Kilchrenan and Glenorchy and Innishail. c) The Constituency MSP, Jenni Minto and the Constituency MP Brendan O’Hara were notified, prior to the PAN being submitted. In addition, the following consultation steps have been undertaken: a) Public Exhibitions were first held at Taynuilt Village Hall and North Connel Hall, in January 2023. b) Public Exhibitions were held at Portsonachan Village Hall, Portsonachan, on the 22nd of April 2025 from 16:00 to 19:00 hours, North Connell Hall, North Connell, on the 23rd of April 2025 from 10.00 to 13.00 hours, at Taynuilt Village Hall, Taynuilt, on the 23rd of April from 16.00 to 19.00 hours and at Kilmore Village Hall, Kilmore, on the 24th of April 2025 from 10.00 to 13.00 hours. c) Two press notices to be placed in both the Oban Times and the Argyllshire Advertiser at least 7 days in advance of the proposed public meetings to be held, as set out above. d) The information presented at the April 2025 public exhibitions will also be made published online from 4pm on Tuesday 22nd April at: www.beinnghlasrepowering.co.uk e) Postcards with details of the public events will be posted to properties within 10 km radius of the proposed wind turbines two weeks prior to the public exhibitions. The postcards will include contact details which interested parties can use to contact the Project team. f) The landowner, agricultural tenants, properties within 2 km of the Proposed Development, individuals who completed comment forms at the January 2023 public events and parties who have previously been in touch with the Project team to raise queries / provide comments will continue to be kept informed about the project and provided with contact details which can be used to raise queries. Officers originally considered that the steps set out in the PAN submission were not acceptable and are therefore not considered to be in accordance with the minimum requirements of the Regulations, to ensure appropriate community consultation is undertaken. To be considered to be PAC compliant by the council, the 2 rounds of public events, required to be undertaken by the regulations, should only be held after the PAN has been formally submitted. In this respect, following ongoing discussions with the agent, agreement has now been reached that a further round of public events will be undertaken at both North Connel and Taynuilt, and associated adverts placed in local papers advising of the location, dates and times. This proposal for further community consultation is considered acceptable to officers, and to be PAC compliant. 2.0 DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT Based on the description of the development contained within the proposal of application notice, the forthcoming application is anticipated to comprise of up to 7 wind turbines (up to 149.9 metres to tip) and associated infrastructure. The proposed development will also include works to decommission and restore the existing operational Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm (ref: 97/00719/DET), making use of some of the existing infrastructure on the site. The project website states that the proposed turbines will generate up to 33.6 MW of
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Classification: OFFICIAL power, in comparison to the current installed capacity of 8.4 MW for the existing wind farm. The PAN submission is accompanied by a site location plan. 3.0 SITE DESCRIPTION The site comprises of an operational wind farm located within low, rugged hills, scattered with small outcrops of rocks and scoured with steep sided streams. There is open moorland, predominantly upland heath and mires including bog pools, on the higher ground and a mixture of rough grassland and woodland on the lower slopes. There is a combination of native deciduous woodland and commercial coniferous forestry to the southeast of the site. The existing Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm, approved in August 1998, comprises 14 no. wind turbines with a tip height of approximately 54.1 m, blade length of 19.1 m each with a capacity of 600kW, providing an overall capacity of 8.4MW. Each turbine is supported on a tapered, cylindrical tower approximately 35 m high and has a three bladed rotor approximately 43 m in diameter. The existing turbines at the site of the proposed repowering development would be removed, and the site would be reinstated, except where infrastructure would be used for the repowering project. Within the surrounding area there is a combination of native deciduous woodland and commercial coniferous forestry to the north and southeast of the site. There is evidence in the wider area of cultivated land and improved grazing but generally the land has been used non-intensively. A habitat management area was established to the west of the existing Beinn Ghlas Wind Farm to improve grouse habitat on the Duntanachan Estate relative to the Barguillean Estate (i.e. the wind farm area). The objective was to increase grouse densities on the Duntanachan Estate to encourage the Beinn Ghlas golden eagles away from the wind farm area, which would help offset any effects from the wind farm on the eagles. Vegetation surveys and grouse monitoring continue to be undertaken, and the habitat management area remains fenced to encourage the ongoing enhancement of the habitat at Duntanachan to support prey for golden eagle. The nearest settlements to the site are the town of Oban and village of Taynuilt, which are approximately 12 km and 4 km respectively from the nearest parts of the site. Both are predominantly separated from the site by a range of hills to the south of Loch Etive. The area surrounding the site contains few other settlements. 4.0 DEVELOPMENT PLAN POLICY This is not a planning application and therefore does not require evaluating and determining in accordance with Section 25 of the Planning Act against the Development Plan and its policies. However, in considering the merits of this PAN, a number of Development Plan Policy considerations are relevant. The policies likely to be considered include: National Planning Framework 4 (Adopted 2023) NPF4 Policy 1 – Tackling the climate and nature crises NPF4 Policy 2 – Climate mitigation and adaption NPF4 Policy 3 – Biodiversity NPF4 Policy 4 – Natural places
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Classification: OFFICIAL NPF5 Policy 5 – Soils NPF4 Policy 6 – Forestry, woodland and trees NPF4 Policy 7 – Historic assets and places NPF4 Policy 11 – Energy NPF4 Policy 22 – Flood risk and water management Argyll & Bute Local Development Plan 2 (Adopted 2024) Policy 02 – Outwith Settlement Areas Policy 04 – Sustainable Development Policy 10 – Design – All Development Policy 15 – Supporting the Protection, Conservation and Enhancement of our Historic Built Environment Policy 16 – Listed Buildings Policy 19 – Scheduled Monuments Policy 20 – Gardens and Designed Landscapes Policy 21 – Sites of Archaeological Importance Policy 30 – The Sustainable Growth of Renewables Policy 35 – Design of New and Existing, Public Roads and Private Access Regimes Policy 43 – Safeguarding of Aerodromes Policy 55 – Flooding Policy 56 – Land Erosion Policy 57 – Risk Appraisals Policy 58 – Private Water Supplies and Water Conservation Policy 59 – Water Quality and the Environment Policy 60 – Private Sewage Treatment Plants and Wastewater Drainage Systems Policy 61 – Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) Policy 62 – Drainage Impact Assessments Policy 63 – Waste Related Development and Waste Management Policy 70 – Development Impact on National Scenic Areas (NSA’s) Policy 71 – Development Impact on Local Landscape Areas (LLA’s) Policy 73 – Development Impact on Habitats, Species and Biodiversity Policy 74 – Development Impact on Sites of International Importance Policy 77 – Forestry, Woodland, and Trees Policy 78 – Woodland Removal Policy 79 – Protection of Soil and Peat Resources Land Use Designations in LDP 2: • Zoned as within the Countryside area. 5.0 POTENTIAL MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS In respect of this proposal, it is considered that the following matters will be material considerations in the determination of any future planning application: • Settlement strategy; • Supporting the sustainable growth of renewables; • Location, nature and design of proposed development; • Spatial framework for wind farms; • Net economic impact, including local and community socio-economic benefits such as employment, associated business and supply chain opportunities; • The scale of contribution to renewable energy generation targets;
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Classification: OFFICIAL • Effect on greenhouse gas emissions; • Impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, noise and shadow flicker (including cumulative impacts); • Landscape and visual impacts, including effects on wild land (including cumulative impacts); • Effects on natural heritage, including birds (including cumulative impacts); • Impacts on carbon rich soils, using the carbon calculator (including cumulative impacts); • Public access, including impact on long distance walking and cycling routes (including cumulative impacts); • Impacts on the cultural heritage, including scheduled monuments, listed buildings and their settings (including cumulative impacts); • Impacts on tourism and recreation (including cumulative impacts); • Aviation, defence and seismological recording (including cumulative impacts); • Impacts on telecommunications, broadcasting installations and transmission links (including cumulative impacts); • Impacts on road traffic and adjacent trunk roads (including cumulative impacts); • Effects on hydrology, the water environment and flood risk (including cumulative impacts); • The need for conditions relating to the decommissioning of developments, including ancillary infrastructure, and site restoration (including cumulative impacts); opportunities for energy storage (including cumulative impacts); • The need for a robust planning obligation to ensure that operators achieve site restoration (including cumulative impacts) • Detailed design, scale and massing; • Planning history of the site; • Planning Advice Notes & Web-based Renewables Guidance; • Renewable energy and climate change framework; • Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019; • The Future of Energy in Scotland: Scottish Energy Strategy, Scottish Government (December 2017) and position Update dated 16.3.21; • Scotland’s Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan: Ministerial statement (Dated 10.1.23); • The views of statutory consultees in respect of any formal planning application; and • Any other material considerations raised within representations. 6.0 CONCLUSION This report sets out the information submitted to date as part of the PAN. Summarised are the policy considerations against which any future planning application will be considered, as well as potential material considerations and key issues, based upon the information received to date. The list is not exhaustive, and further matters may arise, as and when a planning application is received, and in the light of public representations and consultation responses. 7.0 RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that Members note the content of the report and submissions and provide such feedback as they consider appropriate in respect of this PAN to allow these
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Classification: OFFICIAL matters to be considered by the Applicant in finalising any future planning application submission. Author of Report: Stuart Ramsay Date: 2 May 2025 Reviewing Officer: Sandra Davies Date: 7 May 2025 Fergus Murray Head of Development and Economic Growth