A risk assessment has been carried out of wind turbines at schools in the Highlands

The turbines were turned off in May be the Highland Council following safety worries.

The Council has decided to turn the turbines off in 100mph conditions, despite recommendations from the local authority that they could operate safely in winds of 134mph.

As a result of the assessment, twelve schools will now receive staff training, better security fencing and turbine servicing.

The schools are Bower, Castletown, Crossroads, Pultneytown, South, Stoer, Hilton of Cadboll, Inver and Acharacle primary schools, while the secondary schools are Dornoch, Gairloch and Culloden.

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Turbines at Holm Primary in Inverness, Rosehall Primary in Sutherland and Eigg Primary in the Small Isles are to be removed following findings which showed them to have poor energy performances.

A device at Craighill Primary in Tain will be moved to another location after it was found to be badly sited.

But a turbine at Scoraig Primary in Wester Ross was found to be in a safe location and was switched back on over the summer.

Steve Barron, depute chief executive, told BBC Scotland the local authority had acted on public concerns.

He said: "There has been a great deal of interest and some concern about the planning and installation of wind turbines on school sites.

"As a result of this, we commenced a review of the risk assessment process and the installations of wind turbines at council schools.

"That review has focused on reports from the Building Research Establishment which provided a risk assessment tool and independent assessments for each school site."

(IT)