PLANS for two wind turbines on a farm between Shandon and Garelochhead have been given the green light by councillors.

Members of Argyll and Bute Council's planning, protective services and licensing committee unanimously approved an application for the development at Laigh Balernock at a hearing on Tuesday.

Farmer Robert Hamilton had sought permission to put up two 48-metre turbines at the hillside farm, above Faslane, but the committee agreed to hold a hearing after the two community councils in the area expressed opposite views on the plans, with Rhu and Shandon raising objections and Garelochhead supporting the application.

Opinion was also split among members of the public who commented on the proposal, with 13 people objecting and 14 giving it their backing.

But there was no such split among members of the committee – all of whom voted to approve the application at the end of Tuesday's hearing in Rhu.

The committee's chairman, Helensburgh and Lomond South councillor David Kinniburgh, said afterwards: “There was a case made for a precedent being set, and there was also a case put forward by Rhu and Shandon Community Council about the visibility of the turbines.

“But my view was that they will be below the sky line and will therefore blend in with the hillside.”

The council's planning officers had initially recommended a condition, in the event of permission being granted, that the turbines be painted green or brown to blend in with the surrounding landscape.

But Cllr Kinniburgh said officials' view on that had changed by the time of Tuesday's hearing – and no such condition was attached to the permission in the end, meaning that the turbines are likely to appear in the usual grey-white colour when they are put up.

Cllr Kinniburgh added: “There was a suggestion put forward that the naval base shouldn't be used as an excuse to put up turbines in that location, but the planners' view was that they would be minded to approve the application whether the base had been there or not.

“The application fits with the policies of Argyll and Bute Council on wind energy capacity and with the policies of the local development plan in every way.

“There will only be two turbines so the committee's view was that no precedent will be set.

"If more turbines were to be introduced that might create an issue where planners would have to consider the collective impact, but any more turbines would have to be subject to a separate planning application.”

Lomond North councillor George Freeman, whose ward includes the application site, and who sits on the planning committee, said he was “delighted” at the decision.

In his application Mr Hamilton pledged to give the 'community benefit' from the project - a common feature of wind turbine developments in Scotland - to the Route 81 youth project in Garelochhead.