Eye of the beholder

The councilors at Scottish Highlands rejected plans for installing 48 wind turbines at sites near Tomatin for fear that the towering machines would trash the areas ephemeral atmosphere. Highland Council's Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey planning committee objected the plans as it would have a significant detrimental effect upon visual amenity of the area. While opponents in the Highland argue the turbines would scare tourists away from their historic sites, their fears may be allayed by a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI. The survey conducted found that 43 percent of participants thought the presence of a wind farm had positive effect and only 18 percent said had a negative effect. Wind turbines are elegantly engineered machines and could not be considered as an eye sore on the view.