A boardroom split was behind the collapse of an £80 million windfarm in the Angus Glens, The Courier can reveal.
But developers who pulled the plug on the 17-turbine Nathro Hill project have said they “fully expect” to come back with a new venture in the region once “differences” have been resolved.
Eurowind UK formally withdrew their application for the three-mile, industrial-scale windfarm in Glen Lethnot near Edzell and objectors were notified of the decision on Tuesday.
This followed a letter to the Scottish Government reporter allocated to the job from one of the firm’s two directors, Julian D’Arcy.
Mr D’Arcy wrote to case officer Liz Kerr asking for an extension to a planned meeting on October 29, before the application was fully withdrawn.
He spoke of a struggle between the firm’s owners and the other director, which had resulted in a takeover of Nathro Hill Wind Farm Limited.
“I would confirm that the true significance of the issue has only just become apparent and therefore I am raising it as soon as it was practical to do so,” he said.
“As you are aware this application is being promoted by Eurowind UK Ltd in conjunction with its wholly owned subsidiary Nathro Hill Wind Farm Limited.
“The sole director of Nathro is Ian Lindsay who you have been dealing with to date. Ian is one of the directors of Eurowind as am I. There are no other directors at the moment.
“Differences have arisen between Ian and the owners of Eurowind.
“Suffice to say that the majority shareholders have initiated the required corporate process to take control of the companies in hand, but these may not be concluded before the meeting (on October 29).”
A spokesman for the company last night said the current planning climate is behind its decision to withdraw the section 36 application.
He said: “Eurowind UK’s board is obviously disappointed by this decision but takes heart from the fact that this decision will allow them more time to deepen and strengthen ongoing discussions with the local community over the community ownership element of the development.
“The board fully expects to take the project forward at a later date with the offer of a comprehensive shared ownership package with the community.
“Ongoing wider discussions mean that Eurowind UK cannot comment further at this stage but intends to make further announcements clarifying their intentions and that of Nathro Hill Wind Farm very shortly.”
One of the activists against the plans, artist David Adam, said he was “delighted that this iconic Angus skyline will be saved”.
“Hopefully this mountain landscape backdrop to much of Angus will be free of turbines for our future generations to cherish,” he said.
“Many Angus artists have featured this ‘gateway to the Highlands’ view in their work, particularly David Waterson and James Morrison and I am sure that it will feature in many of my sketches for years to come.”
A spokesman for online action group Stop Windfarms At Nathro said members were “very pleased” to hear that the application was withdrawn.
The firm faced an uphill battle after Angus Council officials recommended official objection, on the grounds that the landscape and visual impact on the Angus terrain would be too great.
This followed objections by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Cairngorms National Park Authority on similar grounds.