A SALTCOATS secondary school has received a donation worth hundreds of pounds from the developers of a new North Ayrshire wind farm.

Galileo, behind the plans for Crosbie Wind Farm on a site between the towns of West Kilbride, Dalry and Fairlie, presented a £500 cheque to St Matthew’s Academy this week to be used for the benefit of local students.

Cris Thacker, communications manager for the renewable energy company, met with headteacher Stephen Colligan, head girl Sophie Skene and deputy head boy Blair Hamilton to hear about the latest activities at the high school and to hand over the money. 

The donation was part of Galileo’s wider support of local communities in and around its proposed site for the wind farm in recognition of the engagement that it is asking of residents while consulting on plans for the project. 

The school had previously approached Galileo for support and expressed their gratitude for the donation.

Speaking after presenting the cheque to the headteacher, head girl and deputy head boy, Cris said: “It has been a real pleasure to be able to visit St Matthew’s Academy, meet with the fantastic leadership team of teachers and students and, most importantly, provide them with this donation towards their school funds.

“My colleagues at Galileo and I have been consulting extensively with the local communities in and around West Kilbride, Fairlie, Dalry, Ardrossan and surrounding areas for a year now on our plans for Crosbie Wind Farm and we are very aware of the time that we are asking local residents to give up to engage with us and give us their thoughts on our evolving plans.

“In recognition of this, we are delighted to be able to make small contributions at this stage to a number of local groups and charities to support them as we consult on our plans.

"St Matthew’s Academy is an inspiring place, with dedicated staff and motivated students, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and the opportunity to support the school in this way.

"I hope we can continue to develop our relationship with the school further in the future.”

Galileo has held three rounds of community engagement events on Crosbie Wind Farm to showcase the proposed design of the site as it has evolved, the latest of which were held in August.

The developer is now working towards a planning application which will go to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit in the next few months.