Chamber and committees

H Menhinick on behalf of Dailly Community Council submission of 14 June 2021

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

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the above petition. We, Dailly Community Council, have been a statutory consultee for a number of windfarm applications over the past 20 years or so. We were involved in one of the very first windfarms in the area – Hadyard Hill.

We have the experience of how the planning process affects and impacts the communities and especially those residents that are particularly close to any of the actual turbines. We have over the years become quite disillusioned with the whole process, especially in more recent years, with the number of companies targeting our area and the number of turbines covering the landscape. We very much support the aims of the above petition in trying to influence the necessary change to provide communities with more direct influence on onshore windfarm developments.

We can comment as follows:

The number of applications and the volume of information and paperwork involved from initial notification, scoping, first consultation, full consultation, enquiries, to possibly appeals is enormous. The whole process is very time consuming for the actual community that it affects. We are only volunteers, and have our own work and time commitments, and are not experts in windfarms/turbines and environmental assessments. There are very few people within the community that can devote the amount of time that is required to make a decent analysis and report on the required consultation. We do not have the financial resources to employ an expert to assist us in making a valid response.

We do understand that climate change is a major driver for the Scottish and UK Governments and their need to address the situation, however there comes a time when enough is enough. Certain areas are being targeted and to the detriment of the actual local population.

There are numerous incidents where local Councils have objected to a particular windfarm development, for the developer to then go straight to the Government on appeal and have the development approved. Totally against the actual people living in the area and being influenced and impacted by the development.

There are incidences where a proposed development is refused and/or no longer viable to proceed, that a new developer comes along and proposes a development on the same site under a new name, with slight adjustments. In our particular case Hadyard Hill Extension is now proposed as Craiginmoddie. There is another close-by which was Linfairn now renamed as Knockcronal.

We understand the need for a mixed energy solution and agree that windfarms can be part of this. Wind turbines are now so much bigger that they impact communities and individual residents differently than when they were first introduced. In our case the original Hadyard Hill windfarm was relatively well positioned and has various mitigations in place.

Now with so many more windfarms being proposed and being consulted on, members of the community despair at the sheer volume of information that they are being asked and expected to look through. People have become disheartened and disengaged with the whole process. They feel that they are not being listened to.

In general, in our area, members of the community feel that decisions should not be made by those living outside of the area. People in say Edinburgh have no idea what it is like to have a turbine right on your doorstep.

In conclusion we support the petition, to:

1. Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore wind farms.
2. Adopt similar legislation to that of England for the determination of onshore wind developments.
3. Empower local authorities and ensure local communities are given sufficient professional help to engage productively in the planning process and
4. Appoint an independent advocate to ensure that local participants are not bullied and intimidated during public enquiries.

It is vital that local communities are allowed a proper contribution to the planning process for windfarms which have the potential to destroy public amenity, residential amenity and private water supplies. There needs to be a more balance approach.