Wind farm developers make turbines look smaller than they
actually are when applying for planning permission in order to
“trick” councils into giving them the go-ahead, a leading
architect has warned. Alan MacDonald, an architect based in
Inverness, says that computer-generated images of turbines in
planning applications are often little more than “artifice”.
Small changes in the size of the photo, the angle at which it is
taken, the zoom on the camera and how it is presented can all
make turbines look smaller, he said. His concerns have been
accepted by Scottish National Heritage, which issues planning
guidance on “wind farm visualisation” across the whole of the
UK. Brendan Turvey, policy and advice manager for renewables at
SNH, said developers have “definitely” made turbines look
smaller than they are. He said one of the biggest problem is
pictures of the landscape being taken at a distance and then
shrunk to fit into a report so that the turbines also appear to
be smaller. SNH is currently consulting on