Question reference: S6W-05215
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 11 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 January 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the approval rate is of wind farm applications in each local authority area, broken down by those (a) determined and (b) not determined by Scottish Ministers, in each of the last five years.
Answer
Wind farm applications under 50MW are considered under planning legislation whilst proposals over 50MW are dealt with under the Electricity Act.
Planning legislation cases
Information on the approval rate of wind farm applications in each local authority area, not determined by Scottish Ministers, is not held centrally. The Scottish Government publishes figures on the approval rate of all planning applications determined by Planning Authorities for different types of development in Scotland. Over the past 5 years the approval rate has been consistently over 93.7% (this includes the development type Electricity Generation, which includes wind farm applications). The information is available on the following website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/
Scottish Ministers have called-in two planning applications from Orkney Islands Council and issued decisions in 2021 granting consent for both applications.
The following table confirms the position in relation to planning appeals. All bar two of these appeals were decided by reporters from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government. The two appeals not decided by reporters were in the Argyll and Bute Council area, one in 2017 and one in 2019, and were both allowed by Scottish Ministers.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | ||||||||||||
Planning Authority | Cases | Appeal Allowed | Percentage Allowed | Cases | Appeal Allowed | Percentage Allowed | Cases | Appeal Allowed | Percentage Allowed | Cases | Appeal Allowed | Percentage Allowed | Cases | Appeal Allowed | Percentage Allowed | |
Aberdeenshire | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 100% | ||||||||||
Argyll and Bute | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 100% | 2 | 1 | 50% | |||||||
Scottish Borders | 3 | 3 | 100% | 2 | 1 | 50% | 2 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
Dumfries and Galloway | 2 | 0 | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0% | 3 | 1 | 33% | 1 | 0 | 0% | 2 | 2 | 100% | |
East Ayrshire | 6 | 4 | 67% | 5 | 1 | 20% | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||
East Renfrewshire | 1 | 0 | 0% | |||||||||||||
Fife | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||
Highland | 4 | 3 | 75% | 2 | 0 | 0% | 2 | 1 | 50% | 1 | 1 | 100% | ||||
Moray | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||
North Lanarkshire | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||
Orkney Islands | 2 | 2 | 100% | |||||||||||||
Perth and Kinross | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 100% | ||||||||||
South Ayrshire | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 0% | 2 | 1 | 50% | |||||||
South Lanarkshire | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 0% | ||||||||||
West Lothian | 1 | 0 | 0% | |||||||||||||
Total | 16 | 11 | 69% | 16 | 7 | 44% | 15 | 9 | 60% | 7 | 2 | 29% | 4 | 4 | 100% | |
Electricity Act cases
The following table confirms determinations made by Scottish Ministers on applications for wind farms made under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 where a Public Local Inquiry was held following an objection to a wind farm by the relevant planning authority(s) (i.e. the planning authority(s) for the land on which the wind farm would be built). Where the planning authority did not object consent was granted by Scottish Ministers. The percentage consented column therefore only refers to cases where a public inquiry was necessary.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||
Planning Authority | Decisions | PLI required | Percentage Consented (post PLI) | Decisions | PLI required | Percentage Consented | Decisions | PLI required | Percentage Consented | Decisions | PLI required | Percentage Consented | Decisions | PLI required | Percentage Consented | |||
Argyll and Bute | 2 | 2 | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0% | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||
Dumfries and Galloway | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 50% | ||||||||
Dumfries and Galloway/ South Ayrshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
East Ayrshire | 2 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||
East Ayrshire/ Dumfries and Galloway | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||||
Highland | 4 | 3 | 67% | 3 | 3 | 33% | 4 | 2 | 50% | 3** | 2 | 100% | ||||||
Moray | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||
North Lanarkshire | 100% | |||||||||||||||||
Perth and Kinross | 1 | 1 | 0% | |||||||||||||||
Scottish Borders | 1 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1* | 1 | 0% | 1 | 0 | |||||||
Scottish Borders/East Lothian | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||
Shetland Islands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
South Ayrshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
South Ayrshire/ Dumfries and Galloway | 1 | 1 | 100% | |||||||||||||||
South Lanarkshire | 3 | 1 | 0% | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||||||||||
South Lanarkshire/West Lothian | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
Total | 11 | 9 | 78% | 8 | 5 | 40% | 15 | 7 | 29% | 9* | 3 | 67% | 19** | 7 | 86% | |||
* Does not account for Fallago Rig variation which was for an extension of operational period to a wind farm which was already built and operating.
** Does not account for Farr Wind Farm variation which was for an extension of operational period to a wind farm which was already built and operating.