Question reference: S6W-25417
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 9 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 22 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any fire safety documentation, such as a fire strategy report, fire risk assessment, evacuation strategy, fire safety drawings and a fire safety manual, was presented to its Energy and Climate Change Directorate before consent was given to the proposed battery storage facility at Hunterston, North Ayrshire.
Answer
An application was made to Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 by FlexibleGridPower2 Ltd for the electricity generating station known as Hunterston Grid Services Complex at Campbelton Farm on 17 August 2021.
The Scottish Government was aware from the application that a significant provision of work was planned relating to fire safety at the proposed battery storage facility. This includes a Planning Statement which comments on fire safety at section 2.5.
Paragraph 9 of the decision letter notes from the Planning Statement that “the proposed Development will include safety features including cooling and thermal monitoring with fire detection and suppression equipment. A fire strategy report, fire risk assessment, evacuation strategy, fire safety drawings and a fire safety manual will all be produced prior to construction of the proposed Development.”
As set out in the answer to question S6W-25418 on 22 February 2024, there is no legal requirement for fire safety documentation to be included with applications made under these regulations. Therefore, these were not presented to the Scottish Government prior to Scottish Ministers’ direction that planning permission was deemed to be granted.
In determining the application in question, Condition 6 was applied to the section 36 consent, requiring the development to be undertaken in accordance with the application. This includes the provision of work that was planned relating to fire safety. Once granted, the enforcement and monitoring of the planning permission for Hunterston Grid Services Complex became the responsibility of North Ayrshire Council, the planning authority.
The decision letter including all conditions may be viewed at https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00003319 under ‘Documents / Determinations’.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .