Scottish crofters on Lewis are considering taking further legal action on their rejected proposals to build a 105MW wind farm in the place of a section of EDF Renewables and Wood’s 180MW Stornoway project in the Outer Hebrides.
The Scottish Land Court last week ruled that it would not ask the Crofting Commission to review its 2018 decision to refuse plans for 21 turbines across four Lewis townships: Sandwick North Street, Sandwick East Street, Aiginish and Melbost.
The development was ruled invalid by the Crofting Commission after accepting the position of Stornoway Trust, which granted EDF/Wood a 70-year lease for their 180MW project, that the community turbines would “impede or stop” the larger scheme from going ahead and would cause the landlord “material detriment”.
Sandwick North Community Energy said consideration is being given to taking the matter to Scotland’s Court of Session to appeal last week’s ruling by the Scottish Land Court.
“We asked the Land Court to require the Crofting Commission to allow us to make representations on the landlord’s objection, which would then allow the court to make a decision based on evidence instead of just accepting the landlord’s objection on face value,” added spokeswoman Rhoda Mackenzie.
“We’ve got a statutory 21-day period to decide if we’re going to appeal the Land Court’s ruling and that decision will have to be taken collectively by the township.”