Ferintosh Distillery plan on Black Isle sparks strong concerns among local residents in the Highland community

Terrified residents are fearful black mould will fill their homes near a planned distillery and feel “intimidated” and “voiceless” due to a lack of consultation with developers.

That’s the view of residents in the Duncanston area of the Black Isle after a planning application was lodged for a new Ferintosh Distillery near Mulchaich Farm.

A spokesperson for the residents says the community have a string of “very strong concerns” over the proposals - which the developer’s agents claim will create 30 jobs and attract 20,000 visitors a year.

But, while residents say they “absolutely appreciate” the idea of job creation and investment in the area, they have been very critical of its proposed location. The distillery would sit on a greenfield site that is surrounded by farmland, nearby woods and archaeological remains, and has proven controversial with residents in that corner of the Black Isle.

When word of the proposals first emerged in summer 2023, it prompted vocal criticism over the extra traffic the distillery will generate and its impact on the area’s minor roads, which residents argue are not wide or strong enough to handle the volume of visitor and industrial vehicles the site will generate.

The developer has since modified the plan to bring traffic to the site via an alternative route.

But when the full planning application was lodged this month, the new distillery prompted further concerns among locals.

The residents’ spokesperson said: “A lot of the concerns relate to the traffic and how that is going to work, particularly during the build phase. However, there's also a lot of local concern with regard to destruction of the local environment. Now that local people have seen the plans, they can understand the scale and scope of the development, both visually and in terms of the habitat.

“And I think a bigger problem is that the locals have been left very trepidatious about voicing any concerns because they feel that there has been no communication whatsoever directly with the community apart from a very small consultation event that no-one was made aware of. They've been left very intimidated. There have been helicopters landing next to their gardens with the investment team. They don't know who this investment team is.

“There have been limos rushing up and down the roads. They've been left feeling very intimidated and unable to voice their concerns about this.”

Another big concern has been the expected presence of the black mould associated with distilleries and their cask storage warehouses. The mould, which thrives on tiny quantities of alcohol vapour in the air, is a common sight at distilleries across Scotland - but can be very unsightly on buildings and can build up on indoor surfaces too.

“People who live there are terrified that their homes are going to be full of black mould,” said the spokesperson. “Not just that it'll affect their housing but that it'll affect the local environment and the woodland as well.”

They added that the locals also can’t understand why the distillery isn’t being planned for a brownfield site, suggesting some locations in Dingwall, which has its own link to Ferintosh after the former Ben Wyvis Distillery resurrected the name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“It doesn't make sense,” they added. “Just build it in a site where people can access it, bring the jobs to Dingwall. The jobs would be really welcomed somewhere like that you know that's not decimating a beautiful area of natural heritage and not causing a community of elderly people to feel as if they are going to lose their homes - this is the state some of them are in at the moment, they feel they can't live there any more, and that's just really sad.”]]]

Local resident Dennis Lynskey also has concerns. His home is 65 metres from the buildings and he is worried about noise and traffic volumes.

“Our concerns are it's basically an industrial premises so close to our property. It's only 65m from our property to the proposed site, and it looks like it's quite a large industrial-type unit. We're also concerned about the noise from it obviously although the noise survey that they've had carried out actually says there'll be a reduction in noise. So, from an empty field full of sheep to having an industrial distillery there - I can't believe that.

He also questioned the developer’s predicted number of visitors, which - at 20,000 - equate to an average of 55 people per day.

“Why have they got parking spaces for 52 [vehicles]? They must be expecting more than those.”

Organic Architects, the agents handling the application on behalf of applicant Morris Dalgetty has responded to the local concerns. A spokesperson for them said: “This kind of craft distillery has been built all over Scotland during the last ten or twelve years or so. Highland Council is experienced in dealing with such applications. A visit to Ardnamurchan, Drimnin or Castletown will demonstrate that there are no ecological concerns, and that these buildings exist in the most pristine parts of the countryside. Local distilleries exist in Tomatin and even in the centre of Inverness.

“These businesses create numerous well paid jobs for local families. It is exactly the sort of business called for in the Black Isle Place Plan, put together by the local community.

“The information event we held last year was an information event for the archaeologists who have been working on the ancient distillery site for many years. The planning process doesn't require that the applicant speaks to the community about this scale of application as it is too small for that, although neighbours were welcome to attend as it was an open meeting. When we were told that they had concerns about the access being taken from the north we went back to the drawing board and changed the access to come in from the main road to the south. Now no distillery traffic will pass Ferintosh church. This took many months to re-design, hence the delay in making the application.

“Black mould is only seen where there are many warehouses. It happens when the natural fungus in the air we breathe is given ethanol to feed on - we can see what is in the air. We have taken care to locate the warehouses well away from houses in any case. Ethanol disperses 100M away from a warehouse and in such windy areas as the Black Isle it will be quickly dispersed. Town centre distilleries are long established in many places such as Oban and Pitlochry, there is no issue with mould in these places.

“When broken down into daily visits the annual number of 20,000 visitors equates to around 18 car journeys on a summer day and 4 on a winter's day. The existing farm can run any number of agricultural vehicles so the traffic will not necessarily exceed the current situation.

“We have been working with Morris Dalgety for ten years as the applicant. He is lucky enough to have the ancient still bases in his field, and the tremendous history of Ferintosh Whisky can be traced back to his land. It is a great opportunity to celebrate and bring back to life this historic brand which was the first licensed distillery, and once was half of all Scotch whisky production, made locally here in the Black Isle.”

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