Campaigners warn net zero bid could 'overwhelm' beautiful UK island

Campaigners have launched a passionate campaign to stop multiple windfarm proposals that could "massively change" their iconic landscape. Plans to develop an existing windfarm on the Isle of Skye into 200-metre-high turbines will go before a public enquiry on Monday, but it is just one of several developments residents are determined to prevent from dominating their home. The Scottish Government also approved the Skye overhead replacement line last week - a major and controversial piece of grid infrastructure that officials heralded as "important in helping the UK achieve its energy security and clean power ambitions".

Andrew Robinson, leading campaigner in the Skye Windfarm Information Group, has suggested that the slew of windfarm proposals, which could see 100 turbines built on the 50-mile-long island, would damage the environment and hurt the tourist trade, which generates around £260 million for the local economy each year. He has urged the SNP government to launch planning inquiry commissions into the plans, to understand that as a cohesive whole they will "overwhelm" the region, but said he was rebuffed and told "the existing planning process is enough".

The Scottish government has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, ahead of many other countries including the UK, whose target is 2050 - with investment in renewable energies making up a central part of the shift, including an aim to install 20 gigawatts (GW) by the end of the decade.

There are already two wind farms on Skye, which is one of Scotland's most popular tourist destinations, welcoming 650,000 visitors each year, with eight more in the pipeline.

In a letter to the Scottish Government, Mr Robinson said: "There is an urgent need to take a strategic look at all of the plans proposed for Skye. At present, residents are overwhelmed by the individual planning applications they face, and may wish to object to.

"The paperwork for each application is huge. The developers, usually funded by overseas private equity companies, have access to consultants, PR and marketing experts and endless legal and planning advice."

"The proposed plans will be overwhelming," he added. "They cannot be justified on [the] basis of need, as Scotland stands to more than meet its renewable energy targets if the current consented wind farms across the country are built.

"[They] will cause untold destruction to Skye's fragile and beautiful habitat."

Skye, which is the largest of the Inner Hebrides, has long been a tourist draw because of its distinctive rock formations, beautiful waterfalls and lively wildlife population - including seals, red deer, otters and golden eagles.

A spokesperson for the Scottish government told The Herald that the case wouldn't be escalated to planning inquiry commission level because "there are existing and well-established procedures for renewable and grid infrastructure, including for the consideration of any cumulative impacts arising".

They added: "The Scottish Government has an ambition, as set out in our Onshore Wind Policy Statement, for 20GW of Onshore Wind by 2030 and we are working with the onshore wind industry to ensure that the delivery of this ambition supports our regional and national economies, communities and nature.

"The UK Government's Clean Power Action Plan respects the Scottish Government's onshore wind ambitions for 2030."