A legal challenge from RSPB Scotland to the granting of consent for four major offshore wind farms has been upheld.

The bird protection charity had objected to the Scottish government’s consent for the developments in the Forth and Tay regions.

A petition for judicial review of the decision has now been granted after hearings at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Hundreds of turbines

Scottish ministers granted consent in October 2014 for the Neart na Gaoithe, Inch Cape and Seagreen Alpha and Bravo developments. The four wind farms include hundreds of turbines said to be capable of producing enough electricity to power 1.4 million homes.

The Neart na Gaoithe wind farm off the Fife Ness coastline is being developed by Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power.

Mainstream chief executive Eddie O'Connor, a former chief executive of Bord na Móna and founder of Airtricity, has said that Neart na Gaoithe will generate enough electricity to supply more than all of Edinburgh's homes.

RSPB Scotland said the decision to challenge the consents in the courts had been taken “with great reluctance” and as a last resort to protect thousands of gannets, puffins, kittiwakes and other seabirds.

PA