Landscape Capacity Study for Wind Farm ... - North Ayrshire Council

etween Dalry and Fairlie, Greenock/Loch Thom and Largs. The hill summits
of Misty Law and Kaim Hill were also visited.
5.21 The existing wind farms of Wardlaw Wood and Ardrossan are not visible
within the ‘Loch Thom’ character area although there are views of these
developments from the ‘Upland Core’ character area.
5.22 The Inverkip wind farm proposal (and any other proposal sited on the western
hill slopes of the CMRP) would have cumulative impacts with the existing tall
structures of the power station chimney and overhead transmission lines in
views from some popular walking routes, hill summits and the minor road within
the ‘Loch Thom’ character area. This proposal would also be seen
simultaneously with the Waterhead Moor and Wings Law proposals over an
extensive area of the uplands to the north of the A760.
5.23 The consented Kelburn wind farm would be theoretically visible from a small
part of the Loch Thom character area above Skelmorlie. The Millour Hill
proposal would not be visible from this area. Both these proposals would
increase the extent of wind farm development already visible (and seen
between 5km and 15km distance) from the ‘Upland Core’ character area. The
cumulative effects of multiple wind farm developments (Wings Law, Inverkip,
Waterhead Moor) which are sited in close proximity to each other within a
relatively limited upland area would be significant and be overwhelmingly
dominant to people walking within the hills of the ‘Upland Core’.
Conclusions
5.24 The location and pattern of existing and consented wind farm development
within the uplands of mainland North Ayrshire sets a baseline context against
which new development proposals should be judged. Consideration needs to
be given to the established association of existing/consented wind farms with
landscape character as well as the potential cumulative effects of additional
development on landscape character and on views. A potential landscape
strategy for sensitively locating additional wind farm development within the
phase one study area is explored further in section 6 which follows.
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