MOUNTAINEERING Scotland is calling for absolute protection for wild land in planning policy. The representative body for hill walkers has hit out at planners following the outcome of a judicial review which upheld plans for a wind farm to be built on a wild land area in the Highlands.
Views from northern mountains, such as Scotland’s most northerly Munro Ben Hope, will be impacted by the 22-turbine Creag Riabhach wind farm, with five of the turbines standing within a wild land area on the Altnaharra Estate in Sutherland.
Mountaineering Scotland chief executive officer David Gibson said: ‘This outcome emphasises why the Scottish Government must change its present policy. Wild land areas must get the same absolute protection as National Scenic Areas and National Parks.’