AN APPLICATION to increase the proposed height of wind turbines so plans for a windfarm could go ahead has been rejected.

North Ayrshire Council officers refused the application for the site at Sorbie Dairy Farm on Wednesday, February 5.

Councillors previously put in a request for the full planning committee to determine the application’s fate but were rejected.

The refusal to allow the size of the turbine blade tip from 104.3m to 125m was because it contravened the council’s Local Development Plan, officers said.

The decision notice says the plans would be “adverse in terms of landscape and visual impacts, especially given the locational context of the site within 2km to the north of the settlement of Ardrossan”.

Further, officers said the development would set “an undesirable precedent” for windfarm developments within 2km of a settlement.

The Herald previously reported that members of both Saltcoats and Stevenston Community Councils wanted the plans to go ahead, citing a community fund as a motivator.

But this cannot be considered in planning applications.

Michael Briggs, project manager for the proposal’s developers Energiekontor UK Ltd, said: “We are disappointed that despite working with the planners at North Ayrshire Council to amend our proposals they have refused our proposed Sorbie Wind Farm.

"The application will now go to the Local Review Body for determination and we are hopeful that Members will arrive at a positive decision after taking into consideration the benefits of the scheme and the considerable level of public support."