Chamber and committees

Norrie McLeod submission of 13 June 2021

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

I am fully supportive of the aims of this petition, which would introduce much more fairness into the planning process so far as it involves windfarm developments.

It seems manifestly unfair that communities with valid objections to a development do not have the same level of legal support as the developers, unless they happen to have a very wealthy member of their community who is willing to provide the financial aid to enable a more level playing field. Especially in small communities, this very often is not the case, meaning that a community is disadvantaged right from the start when attempting to put forward valid objections, their points often being dismissed or misrepresented by the developer's professional legal advisors in order to support their client's case. Anyone who has been subjected to questioning in an official setting of one sort or another will vouch that, for a non-legal person, this can be an extremely uncomfortable and stressful experience, and can end up producing biased outcomes.

Additionally, in Scotland, the status of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) is much reduced compared with England when it comes to the final say on proposed windfarm developments, thus reducing considerably the power of local democracy, to its considerable detriment. The English system of LPAs determining all windfarm proposals subject to overall guidance is much fairer and much more indicative of a system which genuinely values local democracy, taking into account community views much more than the Scottish system.