News / Wind farm inquiry
ANTI-wind farm campaigners in Easter Ross have failed in their attempt to halt a public inquiry in what is believed to have been the first test of the Court of Session ruling into Viking Energy’s planning consent for a wind farm in Shetland.
Campaigners against a 34-turbine development at Glenmorie had argued the planning application was “incompetent” because the developer had no electricity generating licence.
Last month, Lady Clark of Calton squashed Viking Energy’s planning consent on grounds that the company had no such licence.
Campaign group Save our Straths (SOS) said the inquiry, which was triggered after the local authority objected to the wind farm, should be postponed until the outcome of the Scottish minister’s appeal into Lady Clark’s ruling was known.
However, following a long legal debate in the local village hall on Monday, Scottish government reporter Katrina Rice decided that the hearing could proceed, as the government appeal may be successful.
She also is reported as saying that she was happy to proceed as no party had applied to the courts to challenge the legality of the Glenmorie project.
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