Local communities should be given the final veto for onshore windfarm developments in their region.
It comes after Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, revealed the Scottish Government gave permission for FIVE schemes in ONE day.
He warned that some local authorities – including Dumfries and Galloway – were being swamped by planning applications for wind turbines.
However, in many cases, councils are often unable to meet the necessary time restraints – resulting in the developers appealing to the Scottish Government.
The local MSP supported a petition at Holyrood by Scotland Against Spin calling for local communities to be given a stronger voice.
The campaign group wants the laws to be similar to England where local people are given greater say about onshore wind farms being constructed.
In a written response to the public petitions committee, Mr Carson said: “I fear that ambitious climate change targets will result in more onshore wind farms applications being granted by default through the appeal process to Scottish Government, despite rejection by local authorities who have listened to local communities who have raised concerns relating to cumulative effect, power line infrastructure, and environmental and biodiversity damage.
“These fears are further exasperated by examples where planning consent conditions not being monitored or indeed even considered requirements when the Scottish Government determine an appeal.”
He added: “Not only is change required to allow for professional assistance to be offered to communities to assist them to engage with the planning process, financial assistance should be given to local authorities to enable them to determine applications within the allotted timescale and assist with costs of on-going monitoring conditions.
“The Scottish Government need to give proper consideration to community concerns and cumulative development when considering appeals and repowering applications, in one day alone, during December 2021, the Scottish Government consented to five wind farms in Scotland, surely this is not the way forward.
“These fears are further exasperated by examples where planning consent conditions not being monitored or indeed even considered requirements when the Scottish Government determine an appeal.
“Currently some local authorities are being overwhelmed by large numbers of windfarm applications due to a lack of resources to complete application determination within the legal timescale and these applications are then referred to the Scottish Government for consideration, effectively bypassing local democracy. Councils are also struggling to provide ongoing environmental and construction monitoring during and following construction.”
The local MSP believes change is required to allow for professional assistance to be offered to communities to assist them to engage with the planning process.
Financial assistance should also be given to local authorities to enable them to determine applications within the allotted timescale and assist with ongoing monitoring conditions.
His call comes in the wake of the Mochrum Fell development in Dumfries and Galloway where hundreds of local people objected to the proposals only to be ignored. It is now going to a hearing next month.
Mr Carson revealed in 2019, four in ten planning decisions appealed to SNP ministers had their original decision from the council overturned.
He said: “That means hundreds of developments going ahead on the instruction of the Scottish Government in Edinburgh against the wishes of communities and local representatives across the country.
“We need to amend planning laws, so that the Scottish Government cannot overturn a local planning decision. This would ensure that national infrastructure delivers clear local benefits to those that will be affected by it.”
Last week Highland Council called on the Scottish Government to take a more strategic approach to onshore windfarm developments. It fears plans to double onshore wind production will fuel conflict in its communities.
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