By Chris Marzella

Copyright dailyrecord

Residents near a towering 250-feet wind turbine in Perth were startled by an “almighty crack” in the dead of night as it crumbled, leaving a tangled mess of metal on the ground. The wind turbine, located at insurance giant Aviva’s Pitheavlis base in Perth , toppled over in the early hours of Friday due to what the insurance firm described as an “engineering fault”. A local resident said: “There was an almighty crack in the middle of the night heard by many residents. The blade snapped off the wind turbine and there’s a huge lump of ragged and twisted metal that fell meters away from the public path.” An Aviva spokesperson told the Perthshire Advertiser : “Our on-site security team observed that the turbine arms had detached from the wind turbine shortly before 1am this morning (Friday, September 12). “Thankfully no-one was injured in the incident, and of course safety remains our top priority. Click here for more news and sport from Perthshire. “The local fire brigade was called to attend the scene to ensure there was no physical or fire risk on the site, and were able to establish that there wasn’t. “From initial investigations it appears that this is the result of some type of engineering fault. The area has been secured, and we are working with the supplier to establish the root cause of this incident, as well as on a plan to repair the turbine and restore it safely to operation.” A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were alerted at 2.01am on Friday, September 12, to reports of a damaged wind turbine at commercial premises in Perth. “Operations Control mobilised one appliance to the scene. “There was no sign of smoke or fire and the crew ensured the area was safe before leaving.” Last October, the Perthshire Advertiser reported on the dismay of local campaigners when the wind turbine was erected in the grounds of Aviva, near residential properties. The ‘Scotland Against Spin’ social media page, set up by opponents of windfarms, saw contributors voicing their concerns about the turbine. The turbine’s application had been approved in October 2022, subject to certain conditions, including the submission of a shadow flicker management plan to identify potentially affected properties and assess its impact on residential amenity. Shadow flicker is a phenomenon that occurs when sunlight passes through the rotating blades of a turbine, creating a flickering effect. It was also stipulated that noise levels from the turbine during the night should be kept within specified limits. Aviva had previously been denied permission to erect a similarly sized turbine closer to its offices due to concerns raised by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) about its negative impact on the setting of category A-listed buildings. The turbine, along with other renewable infrastructure at the site such as solar panels, fully powers the offices with renewable energy. Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser has called for an “urgent inquiry” into the incident. He said: “This is unbelievable. I have had many local residents raise concerns with me about the visual impact of the turbine which dominates the area, and now this happens. “Fortunately, there were no casualties, but it could have been much worse. There is a real danger to people and wildlife. “It is private land, and people shouldn’t be there but there is risk of children wondering in at night. “We need an urgent inquiry into this shocking incident.”