Hundreds of people have signed a petition against plans for a major windfarm near Penpont.

Sanquhar II Community Windfarm would see 50 turbines built on the site, designed to extend
the existing development to the north.

The decision will lie with Scottish Government planners.

The petition urging them to throw out the plans has already hit 276 signatures since being published online on Friday.

The page, run by Penpont’s Susan Hall, claims the development would have an “unacceptable landscape and visual impact”.

She said: “This is to be the second biggest windfarm in Scotland but there is little information on the level of noise and the general disruption to the community.

“The windfarm is to take in Scaur Glen and, given we’re talking about some of the biggest turbines in Scotland here, there is clearly a risk that a large scenic area would be damaged.

“This is just too much and rep-resents the wrong development in the wrong place.”

Kirsty Murphy, 49, who runs a holiday cottage and B&B in Scaur Glen, claims the windfarm would lose her thousands of pounds.

She said: “My business would be ruined because the turbines are to be right across from my property.

“This is a place of outstanding natural beauty and it is just going to devastate the community. People come here because of the fantastic views and to get away from it all, but they simply won’t come if the turbines are in place.”

A spokesman for developers Community Windpower Ltd said: “The windfarm would deliver more than £630 million in investment to the local and Scottish economy through business rates, operations and maintenance contracts, site maintenance and community benefit funding.

“Of this, business rates would total more than £4.3 million per year. It would also create at least four permanent jobs.”

“The application is to be submitted to the Scottish Government by the end of the year.”

The petition can be found at https://www.change.org/p/the-scottish-ministers-stop-sanquhar-ii-windfarm-save-our-beautiful-uplands.