Main Objectors
Historic Environment Scotland Objection
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is Scotland’s lead public body responsible for the historic environment and is a statutory consultee within the planning system. As part of this role, HES provides formal advice to the Marine Directorate on the potential impact of the MachairWind development on Scotland’s historic environment, including nationally designated heritage assets and their settings.
HES applies a high threshold when considering whether to object to a development. In its own words, HES will only object where it considers that a proposal has the potential to cause a significant adverse impact on a heritage asset and does not align with Scottish Ministers’ policies for the historic environment.
HES has submitted a 44-page objection to MachairWind, setting out its concerns in detail. The objection argues that the development’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conflicts with both National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 7 and Policy GEN 6 of the National Marine Plan.
Colonsay Tourism & Marketing Objection
Colonsay Tourism & Marketing is a group that represents the majority of tourism-related businesses on the island. This group has recognised that tourism is fundamental to Colonsay's economy and the research that they have done indicates that visitors will not return to the island if its remoteness and wild land and seascapes are dominated by a "massive industrial park". This is destruction of the very things that draw people back year after year.
Colonsay Tourism & Marketing Group's objection is also supported by a number of research studies carried out relating to tourism and wind farms, demonstrating that the ScottishPower Renewables' EIA is inaccurate in its assessment of the impact on tourism. SPR's EIA consistently underestimates visual effects on Colonsay and Oronsay, fails to mention many of the locations that will be hit hardest and discounts the effect on tourism as "minor adverse, which is not significant in EIA terms".
Hebridean Horizon Objection
Hebridean Horizon is an islander-led campaign formed by people from islands and communities surrounding the proposed development. It’s work has focused on increasing understanding of MachairWind, examining the application and supporting evidence and connect people with the statutory consultation process to ensure that those who may be affected have an opportunity to participate.
Hebridean Horizon has seen the proposal from the perspectives of landscape, heritage, tourism, fishing, wildlife, community resilience, economics, culture and renewable energy and its objection provides a collective picture from feedback from individuals, Community Councils, local businesses and the spiritual community, and this is the reason it is making a separate organisational representation.
National Trust for Scotland Objection
TheNational Trust supports offshore windfarms at the right scale in the right location. However it does not believe the MachairWind Offshore Windfarm meets this criterion due to the negative impact it will have on the tourist economy, habitability, landscape, marine environment and cultural heritage of Iona, Staffa and the Treshnish Isles, all of which are all Trust owned sites.
The National Trust is also concerned about the ornithological impact of MachairWind and the accuracy of the baseline data, so requests more time to examine Chapter 11 and would flag ornithological impacts as an area which should be closely examined by NatureScot in the assessment of this application.
Finally, the Trust disputes the accuracy of the conclusions about the socio-economic impact of the development as they believe that SPR has vastly underestimated the landscape impact. For these reasons, the Trust objects to the proposed development.
Mull Community Council Submission to the Marine Directorate
Mull Community Council asked community members to write to us with views on the proposed Machair development. The dominant view expressed was strong opposition to the proposal, although a smaller number of contributors supported it or supported it conditionally.
This submission to the Marine Directorate covers opinions from residents relating to the compliance of SPR's application, impact on landscape, seascape and cultural heritage, tourism and the local economy, lighting and dark skies, community benefits, network constraints and SPR's consultation / public awareness.
Ross of Mull Community Member
This objection has been included as a "main objector" because it takes a very different approach, looking at weaknesses in SPR's MachairWind EIA (licence application) and how it fails to address key impacts to the "host communities" of the Ross of Mull and Iona.
It delves specifically into Chapters 16 and 18 of ScottishPower Renewables' EIA, and raises concerns that this licence application document has systematically failed to capture or assess nine different risks to the area adequately.
Gigha Community Council Objection
Gigha Community Council’s primary objection to MachairWind is that there is no demonstrated need for further offshore wind development in Argyll. The Community Council strongly opposes the presumption of seemingly unlimited renewable energy expansion across Scotland. Scotland already has more than 18 GW of installed wind power capacity—over three times the 5.7 GW of winter domestic electricity demand. In this context, the objection questions the need for additional marine wind development in Argyll at all.
The objection also examines the proposal in detail, highlighting the lack of meaningful community benefit commitments and the potential impacts on tourism, landscape and the area’s cultural significance. It also raises serious concerns about the proposal’s failure to comply with the requirements of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.
Objection from Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust
The Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust works directly with local communities to ensure whales, dolphins and porpoises are protected and valued throughout Scotland’s west coast. Our seas are under huge pressure; increasingly busy, noisy and polluted. Scotland’s whales and dolphins exist in a fragile state, threatened by a range of environmental, climatic and man-made stresses.
This objection focuses on the following issues with SPR's EIA and licence application:
- Noise associated with construction insufficiently addressed.
- Insufficient mitigation and quantitative assessment demonstrated
- Lack of regard paid to how marine mammals are likely to experience the project both spatially and temporally.
Objection from Visit Mull & Iona
Visit Mull & Iona represents 150 member businesses operating around 190 tourism enterprises across Mull and Iona. The visitor economies of Mull and Iona are overwhelmingly dependent on tourism, drawing visitors from across the globe, attracted by the unspoiled natural environment, culture and wildlife. As such, VMI members have a direct and immediate interest in the outcome of this licence application.
The SPR assessment fails to address the interdependence of Iona, Staffa and the Treshnish Isles with the wider economy of Mull. Yet it assigns Mull's tourism economy a "low sensitivity" rating, implying it could absorb industrial change of this kind without fundamental loss, a conclusion that bears no relation to the reality of a fragile, landscape-dependent island economy.
Visit Mull and Iona has objected to the application for reasons of Landscape, Seascape and Visual Impact; Historic and Cultural Heritage; Ecological and Marine Disruption; Socio-Economic Impacts; Community Benefit and Equity; and Mental Health and Wellbeing
Colonsay Community Council Objection
Colonsay Community Council's objection to SPR's proposed MachairWind wind farm examines a wide range of issues, including the suitability of the site selected by SPR; the potential impacts on Colonsay's coastline; harm to the visual amenity and the setting of Oronsay Priory; potential economic impacts; construction noise; effects on the Colonsay Western Cliffs Special Protection Area; and the fact that the application does not include the associated onshore infrastructure, meaning only part of the overall project is to be assessed.
The submission also sets out the matters that Colonsay Community Council believes the Scottish Ministers should carefully consider before reaching a decision on the application.
Throughout, the objection identifies where the Community Council considers SPR's Environmental Impact Assessment fails to meet relevant policy and assessment requirements, supporting its conclusions with detailed evidence.
Islay Community Council Objection
Islay Community Council's objection to SPR's proposed MachairWind wind farm examines a wide range of issues, including the visual impact on Islay's internationally important seascape, landscape character and the setting of coastal heritage assets; the suitability of the proposed location; impacts on Islay's island community; the marine environment; fisheries and fishing displacement; navigation, lifeline connectivity and safety at sea; protected habitats and species; and the climate benefits claimed by SPR, which are further scrutinised in a dedicated supporting annex. It also considers the adequacy of the information presented within the EIA and the key matters Scottish Ministers should take into account when determining the application.
Iona Community Council Objection
Following a detailed scrutiny of ScottishPower Renewables' (SPR) licence application and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Iona Community Council has submitted a comprehensive, evidence-based objection.
The objection examines a broad range of issues, including the proposed development itself, the relevant legislative and policy framework, impacts on visual amenity, the island's cultural landscape and heritage including the internationally important Iona Abbey, socio-economic effects including the visitor economy, and potential impacts on ecology and biodiversity.
Throughout the submission, Iona Community Council identifies where it considers SPR's Environmental Impact Assessment fails to meet relevant policy and assessment requirements, supporting its conclusions with detailed evidence.
Tiree Community Council Objection
Tiree has previously experienced the proposed Argyll Array offshore wind farm, which stimulated a significant community campaign against the proposal from 2010-2013.
Following extensive consultation with the islanders and a detailed review of ScottishPower Renewables' MachairWind proposals, Tiree Community Council has submitted a comprehensive, evidence-based objection.
This objection examines a wide range of issues, including landscape and visual impact, degradation of dark skies, effects on the island's historic and cultural heritage, socioeconomic impacts, wildlife and biodiversity, and the absence of meaningful local benefit.
Throughout the document, the Community Council sets out the reasons why it believes the proposal is inappropriate for this nationally and internationally important seascape.
Objection from The Iona Community
The Iona Community is an ecumenical Christian community committed to peace, social justice and the integrity of creation. It is a non-profit international organisation with bases in Glasgow and on Iona and Mull.
While recognising the need to transition to renewable energy, this objection argues that justice cannot be achieved by sacrificing local ecological and human communities for administrative convenience, economic profit, or extractive corporate practices.
The fundamental question for Scottish Ministers is not whether offshore wind should be developed in Scottish waters, but whether this proposal complies with Scotland's statutory planning and environmental protection framework, reflects the principles of community wealth building, and demonstrates that its claimed environmental benefits are supported by robust evidence.
The objection examines a range of issues, including the proposal's failure of ecological care (care for creation), the erosion of community sovereignty and hospitality, and deficiencies in the protection of Iona's internationally significant landscape, cultural and spiritual heritage.
Objection from Physicist / Oceanographer Lonneke Godijn-Murphy
Lonneke Goddijn-Murphy is a physicist and PhD qualified oceanographer, an environmental researcher at the University of Highlands and Islands and champions the protection of our oceans from the rapid expansion of the offshore wind industry.
This objection provides evidence on how SPR's EIA fails to meet the required policy and standards in terms of the marine environment, human health, and coastal communities
Objection Letter from David Page (Local Mull Artist)
David Page is an local artist living and working on Mull, and has a recent exhibition "Grit & Grace" inspired by the coast and character of Iona's landscape.
This objection focuses on the evidence-based international importance of the spiritual and cultural heritage of Mull & Iona.
Objection Letter from Charles & Pamela Clover (Ross of Mull)
Charles Clover is a long-standing environmental author, journalist and co-founder of the charity Blue Marine Foundation, and has written about planning issues for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. Charles and his wife Pamela own a property in the Ross of Mull.
This objection looks in more detail at the unacceptable environmental, social, and economic risks posed by the MachairWind proposal.