Stornoway Wind Farm would be situated across a number of common grazings to the west of Stornoway and therefore approval is required from the Scottish Land Court for a ‘scheme for development’ in accordance with section 19A of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. This process has been followed by a number of wind developments in recent years.
The Court is currently assessing the scheme that we have developed in close consultation with local grazings, which reflects the wind farm and its supporting infrastructure. In summary, this statutory process is designed to protect interested parties by ensuring that (1) the development is for a “reasonable purpose”, (2) carrying it out would not be “unfair”, (3) there is fair recompense to each member of the crofting community in the area affected by the development for the effects of the development, and (4) the Land Court is satisfied that the community would be likely to benefit financially.
In addition to the payments we would make to relevant grazings, the wind farm would also deliver a number of indirect benefits, such as new access tracks and fencing.
It is important to stress that rights to grazing would continue, though there would be restrictions on access during construction. The physical area ultimately taken up by the turbines and other wind farm infrastructure would represent a small percentage of the overall grazings meaning that there would be limited impact on local crofting activity.