Chamber and committees

Petitioner submission of 9 June 2021

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

My husband and I bought our smallholding in 1984 to accommodate our horses and bring up a family in the peace and quiet of the countryside. From 2009 onwards planning applications for wind turbines/farms started to overwhelm our local authority area of East Renfrewshire. The Council did not have the necessary expertise or manpower to cope and lacked the funds to employ expensive external consultants to scrutinise technical documents accompanying wind turbine applications.

Community Councils were in a very difficult situation. As volunteers, many with full time jobs, they had limited time to deal with the tsunami of applications or even understand what they were looking at or how to respond.

This resulted in our area having the highest density of turbines in Scotland. There is only room left for very small-scale projects. Developers have now spread into and are starting to overwhelm every other part of the country in a similar manner.

Personal circumstances

For many years, our community raised funds to pay for professional services in an effort to hold back the tide of wind farm development in the area, until there was nothing left to give. Even if applications were refused by the local authority, they were generally overturned by Reporters resulting in many residents losing heart and “throwing in the towel”.

The residents most affected by a proposal personally bore the brunt of the expense, paying for noise consultants, lawyers, landscape architects and planning consultants to represent them at Hearings/Inquiries in a bid to level the playing field against the developers. One resident also found it necessary to take legal action to protect their residential amenity.

Developers are now streaming into Scotland unabated due to the Scottish Government’s “open door” policy. Not only is it much easier to gain planning consent here but planning application fees are also still cheaper than in England which has a fee of £300,000 for any onshore development irrespective of size.

PLANNING APPLICATION FEES IN SCOTLAND

50-100MW    125,000
100-200MW  180,000
200-300MW  180,000
300-500MW  280,000
500MW+       280,000

This, together with the more challenging requirements in England where an area of proposed development must be identified as suitable in the Development Plan (as it should be in all cases) and also have the backing of the Community before planning permission can be granted, makes it unlikely that there will be any relief for Scottish Communities in the foreseeable future unless we have a change in policy.

Why shouldn’t we have the same rights as communities in England? The Scottish Government want us to have a greater say in the development of our own local areas but obviously not when it comes to wind farm developments. If they want us to be able to make informed decisions, then we also require the help to do that.

As explained in the Petition Statement, appeals would be less likely if we adopted England’s system but in the event they did happen, we would still require our voices to be heard and that is a difficult task for many people who are not used to speaking in public and cannot afford representation. They are more likely to withdraw from the proceedings which in turn reduces participation in the planning process. The opposite to which the Scottish Government is trying to achieve.

I believe that this petition ticks all the right boxes and could be easily financed through a rise in the planning application fees.