THE OUTGOING chairman of Alyth community council has spoken out in favour of the Drumderg wind farm.

Jim Adam is standing down after 14 years with the organisation and admits all the controversy surrounding the construction of a wind farm locally was “traumatic.”

The 83-year-old accused a “very noisy minority” of opposing the Scottish and Southern Energy facility, despite “long-term gains” for Alyth.

Mr Adam first served on the community council as treasurer and is now in his sixth year as chairman.

This week he confirmed that he would not be standing for office at next year’s AGM.

The pensioner is also standing down from his role as chairman of Alyth gala committee.

Mr Adam says people who derided the proposals for a large-scale wind farm have been silenced as organisations begin to reap the benefits from the associated community fund.

“My term as office as chair of Alyth community council got off to a fairly traumatic start due to the very noisy minority opposition to the Drumderg wind farm,” he said.

Despite the high profile campaign against the development, Mr Adam says most Alyth residents were happy to see it given the green light.

“In fact the bulk of the Alyth population chose not to oppose the development,” he said.

“Now coming on-stream, the wind farm has not proved to be the great hazard predicted by the campaigners.”

Indeed Mr Adam believes that, far from disrupting life, the development has actually enhanced it.

“The Drumderg community benefit fund has already been a boon to several local organisations,” he said.

The fund—provided by Scottish and Southern Energy—will contribute £64,000 annually over the next 25 years.

A further amount, linked to the output of the wind farm, could take the contribution to £100,000.

As Mr Adam prepares to stand down he is calling for volunteers to follow in his footsteps, insisting they can make a difference in the community.

Anyone interested can call Mr Adam on 01828 633287.