npower renewables has lodged an appeal following Aberdeenshire Council's decision to refuse a planning application for an 8 turbine wind farm on the Kildrummy Estate, 6km to the west of Lumsden.

Members of the Marr region met on 25th September 2007 and voted unanimously against the proposal on the grounds that the scheme would have an adverse impact on the landscape character of the area.

Project manager for Kildrummy, Mark Crawford said: "We were certainly very disappointed by the decision. We understand the desire of Aberdeenshire Council to protect the Area of Landscape Significance (ALS).

However, planning policy for Aberdeenshire makes provision for development in such an area. We believe we had fully demonstrated that the proposal would not impose unacceptable impacts on the ALS; this was a view endorsed by Scottish Natural Heritage following almost three years of work on our part to overcome their landscape concerns. Moreover, we had complied with the necessary terms of the North East Scotland Structure Plan in showing the unavailability of a viable alternative site. Having demonstrated these two cases, we believe we had satisfactorily met all the planning criteria for a positive determination."

For these reasons (among others), npower renewables has elected to appeal against the decision and lodged its appeal with the Scottish Government's Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) in March 2008. A date for the appeal's Local Public Inquiry (LPI) was set by DPEA's Inquiry Reporter, Karen Heywood, at the Pre-Inquiry Meeting held in Alford on 25 July 2008. The LPI will take place from Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 December 2008, from 10am-5pm. The inquiry may continue into the following week if required. A venue has yet to be finalised but it is likely to be either the Alford or Lumsden Public/Community Hall (or a combination of the two). Further details will be posted nearer the time.

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