‘It will destroy the tourist industry’: Kyle of Sutherland businessman’s fears over impact of wind farms on holiday rental business
A SUTHERLAND resident, who runs a holiday rental business, says he fears for his livelihood because of the number of wind farms and associated infrastructure proposed in his area.
Rupert Haig-Thomas is concerned not only for himself but also for others who run visitor-dependent businesses in the Kyle of Sutherland and wider East Sutherland area.
The Kyle appears to be a magnet for energy companies - If all currently proposed developments go ahead, campaign group No Ring of Steel (NoROS) estimates there would be around 274 turbines and associated infrastructure in the Rosehall, Lairg and Kyle area.
Mr Haig-Thomas said: “It will destroy the tourist industry in our area as well as damage the eco system.”
He has raised the issue with Sutherland MP Jamie Stone and MSP Maree Todd and is even considering taking the issue to the European Court of Human Rights.
MSP Maree Todd attended a meeting in Bonar Bridge last night called by NORoS to discuss local residents’ fears.
Mr Haig-Thomas and his partner, artist Ingebjorg Smith, who runs the well-known Studio Smith in Tain, let out Rowan House, which is in a beautiful location near Culrain on the south bank of the Kyle of Sutherland.
The couple started the business in 2020 after renovating the five-bedroom property, which was a ruin with trees growing out of it. Although they rent it out from March to October, it is their main home and they live there the rest of the year.
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Mr Haig-Thomas, who lost money in the 2007 financial crisis, said the business was his main source of income.
He said he had already been badly affected by proposed electricity infrastructure; he had intended to sell a house site to fund the construction of two riverside lodges but the prospective buyers pulled out of the deal after learning that ‘superpylons’ for the new Spittal to Beauly 400kV line would pass through the site.
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He says the mega pylons would also have an impact on Rowan House.
The proposed wind farm that most concerns Mr Haig-Thomas is the 29-turbine, 191 MW Inveroykel Wind Farm and associated battery energy storage system. At 230m high, the turbines would be more than twice the height of the Rosemarkie transmitter.
“Three of the Inveryokel turbines will be barely 1km away from Rowan House and they are colossal,” he said. “If these turbines go ahead our business will be destroyed. I would have to sell at a loss, as I could afford to keep our family home.”
As well as the visual impact of the wind farms, he is concerned about the potential noise, the impact on the fragile environment and wildlife, and the effect of the ground works on private water supplies, with no mains water supply west of Culrain.
Mr Haig-Thomas said that if visitors stopped coming to holiday in the area because they were put off by the turbines, it would have a wider knock-on effect.
“Our guests always visit and spend money in other communities throughout the county,” he said.
He continued: “The politicians say that we should all have our fair share of wind farms, but we go way beyond that. What we are taking on is the equivalent of six districts, let alone a small community.
“Because this is such a small community, they think they can get away with it - there are not enough people to raise a big enough objection.
“There is nothing in place to allow people to claim compensation. The London School of Economics says that the value of property falls by about 12 per cent when turbines are near. But no one is accountable.
“It is the sheer number of developments being planned - if the infrastructure could be limited to what is already there, then that might be a way of reducing some of the impact.”
