A controversial plan to create a wind farm at Brown Muir in Moray is set to go before Moray Councillors for a second time.
Edinburgh based developers vento ludens have confirmed that they have submitted the detailed application for the wind farm following extensive consultation on a new design.
Mike Kelly, Head of Development for company, said: “We went back to the drawing board and redesigned the wind farm, taking on board the comments made during the previous application.
“To address the comments we removed the most prominent turbines from the ridge at Brown Muir and moved others so the wind farm sits closer to the south east boundary of the site.
“This led to a significant reduction of the scheme from 19 to 12 turbines.”
Vento ludens are pinning their hopes that the reduction in the number of turbines and repositioning will be enough to convince councillors that prior fears have been dealt with.
Mr Kelly added: “We’ve consulted widely on the new design, we held five public exhibitions and maintained regular contact with the local community councils and have been pleased with the response to our new design.
“People seem to recognise that our new design has addressed the major concern which was the row of turbines on the ridge of Brown Muir hill.
“We are confident that the wind turbine layout represents environmentally the best fit for the site.”
The company withdrew their previous 19-turbine plans last year in the light of public comments made during what was at times fierce opposition to the plans.
Now they insist that new wind farm has been significantly reduced from this original proposal with the design outlined to the community in a series of exhibitions earlier this year.
Moray Council will now validate the application which will then be advertised in the usual way, while copies of the application are to be made available for local scrutiny and also online through the Moray Council’s planning portal.
Vento Ludens have also written to community councils and councillors to ensure that they are aware the new application has been submitted.