Stakeholder workshop on windfarm planning, 19th March 2008

A workshop was held to allow policy makers to understand, and build into assessments, the issue of cumulative visual impacts of small scale development of wind turbines. Participation was drawn from Councillors and officials of Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and GreenCat Ltd.

The workshop was a collaboration of University of Aberdeen (Alister Scott) and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (David Miller, Paula Harthill and Peter Shannon).

The VLT was used as a tool for exploring different scenarios of wind turbine developments comprising different numbers, clusters versus dispersed layouts, heights and siting. Interactive relocation of turbines enabled consideration of the potential significance of in the context of the landscape shape, content and scale.

The final report on this project will be published in the autumn of 2008.