Chamber and committees

Bob Chicken submission of 13 June 2021

PE1864/AAA - Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore windfarms

I am writing on behalf of the 6 Kintyre mainland Community Councils (Campbeltown, East Kintyre, Southend, Tarbert and Skipness, The Laggan, and West Kintyre) and South Knapdale Community Council.

We fully support this petition.

Like many community councils we have found our workload increased during the pandemic but, here in Kintyre, we have also had to contend with the additional work thrown at us by an increasing number of applications for windfarm with more than 50MW capacity.

The work on the Inveraray to Crossaig power line has been progressing apace over the last 2 years. It is designed to provide the infrastructure for a far greater number of windfarms from the Kintyre and Mid-Argyll areas.

It has opened up the area to a considerable number of windfarm proposals which have been accelerating during the pandemic lockdown. Thus, hard pressed community councils have had to deal with an ever-increasing number of applications while, at the same time, they cannot meet or hold public meetings. These applications are complex and difficult for communities to understand enough to be able to see the economic and employment implications for their future. What has also increased is the size and visibility of the turbines now being proposed. They have grown from a maximum height of 130 metres in 2018 to 230 metres in 2021.

Neither the Scottish Government nor Argyll and Bute Council have offered any support for this ever-increasing workload.

This means that, without any professional assistance, we are unable to make effective judgements on the relative merits of any proposals that come before us. Therefore we are more likely to support the status quo and object to applications and, in turn, windfarm developers will gather their regiments of experts to disprove any objections that we have.

If we are to properly represent our communities we must have access to effective expert advice throughout the process.

We also need the Scottish Government to recognise that far more honest, open and transparent community engagement is required from the developers towards communities.

Sadly, the Scottish Government and local authorities do not seem to recognise the needs of our remote and rural communities at all, in their drive to find renewable energy sources.

Kintyre was one of the first areas in Scotland to offer a home to onshore windfarms so we are well qualified to comment on the current situation.

Our comments on the procedure and its results are summarised below:-

1. We are saying “Enough is Enough” in the face of increasing numbers of complex planning applications from windfarm developers which will more than double the number of operational windfarms on Kintyre and scar its wild and beautiful landscapes with clusters of gigantic 230 metre (750ft) wind turbines, with little regard for the people who live, visit and work here.

2. We have also seen an alarming trend among some developers of not wanting to pay communities the Scottish Government voluntary community benefit (£5,000 per megawatt installed per annum) or offer effective and fair community shared ownership schemes. These ‘recommended’ schemes need to become mandatory.

3. The legislation that governs renewable energy developments and infrastructure (sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989) results in applications that are incredibly lengthy; highly technical; full of jargon and technical concepts that are virtually impossible for community councillors to understand and evaluate. It only requires minimal community engagement by developers. It is woefully inadequate and is no longer fit for purpose.

4. Kintyre’s wind turbine manufacturing plant at Machrihanish once offered the hope of 100+ skilled jobs to this economically challenged area. However, after changing owners several times, it is now mothballed.

Windfarms offer few, if any, local jobs beyond the construction phase. The only jobs that happen are those created by our communities with Community Benefit Funding.

5. The Combined Community Councils of Kintyre and South Knapdale have asked the Scottish Government to implement a plan of action as follows:-

• All further wind farm development to be delayed while a study of the effects it is having on communities of the Kintyre Peninsula and South Knapdale is carried out.

• Community benefit and shared ownership must be made a mandatory requirement of all future planning proposals for windfarm development.

• The Scottish Government should lobby the UK Government to revise section 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 to incorporate the standards of community engagement shown in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. Funding to provide professional consultancy, should be made available to all Community Councils that are affected by section 36 and 37 applications.

• The Scottish Government must explore alternative arrangements for the re-opening of the Machrihanish wind turbine factory with a view to getting it back into full production at the earliest possible date.

Our Communities are asking “Will the Scottish Government support these reasonable proposals and ensure a fairer balance between the needs for greener power and the needs of the remote and rural populations who live and work in the lands needed to generate it?”