Isaacs branded 'the most arrogant man in Britain' in battle over Skye wind farm

Sir Jeremy Isaacs and his wife have been branded the "most arrogant couple in Britain" over their opposition to plans for a wind farm overlooking their holiday home on the island of Skye.

Since the founding chief executive of Channel 4 and his wife, Gillian Widdicombe, bought a former shepherd's cottage in the village of Edinbane last December, as a second home to escape from the pressures of London life, they have been among the most vocal of 200 protesters in their opposition to the scheme which they fear will detract from the beauty of the island, which they argue is crucial to tourism in the area.

Much to the consternation of local crofters and landowners, whose land has been earmarked for the £30m project, Sir Jeremy's involvement has ensured a higher profile debate and brought charges of class warfare, racism, censorship and nimbyism which has split the community.

Today's West Highland Free Press, a left-wing weekly newspaper which for three decades has championed the struggle for survival of Highland communities, hits back at the publicity-seeking Sir Jeremy and his wife with the front-page question: "Is this the most arrogant couple in Britain?"

"For months now, two people who have owned a holiday home on Skye for less than a year have managed to orchestrate a national media campaign against a project which the great majority of people on Skye support and to which even Scottish Natural Heritage does not object," says the newspaper.

"They have not done so on the basis of their case's credibility or because it has been argued with any particular charm. Rather the Isaacs' campaign has been firmly founded on the time-honoured methods of the metropolitan aristocracy – pulling in favours and trading on their names."

The paper defends its attack on the 70-year-old former director general of the Royal Opera House as a response to the reaction among locals to his intervention and says it is timed to coincide with a meeting of the full Highland Council planning committee today to decide the future of the scheme.

"This increasingly large and influential class of people such as Jeremy Isaacs and Gillian Widdicombe is perceived as a threat to development in the area," said a spokesman for the Free Press.

"The Edinbane development is far from the biggest in the Hebrides – there's a far bigger one proposed for the Isle of Lewis, but they don't have the same social holiday home cachet that Skye does and the plan there has been greeted by almost universal acclaim.

"That's because the class of people who tend to object to these things just don't exist on Lewis to the same degree as they do in Skye."

Since the late 1980s when the property boom in the south of England inspired hordes of "white settlers" to move north and colonise the remote and picturesque communities of the Highlands and Islands, there has sometimes been friction between the indigenous population and the interlopers. The population of Skye has risen from 6,000 to about 10,000 in the past few years and although happy to extend the traditional cead mile failte (hundred thousand welcomes) to those willing to integrate into island life many locals have become irritated by the behaviour of those who wish to preserve the rugged mountains, rolling hillsides and weather-beaten coastlines as an idyll.

Rod Stewart Liddon, a farmer who moved to the island 20 years ago after a career in the Army, is one of those who opposes Sir Jeremy's interference. "I am appalled at the arrogance of Jeremy Isaacs," he said. "He may be very important in his own sphere but what does he contribute to Skye other than musing over the scenery?"

Ms Widdicombe said the couple did not want to comment on the Free Press attack.