Minutes of Meeting of the Planning, Development, Europe and Tourism Committee held in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on 19 April 2006 at 2.00 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Officials in attendance:

 

Mr J D Rennilson, Director of Planning and Development

Mr M Greaves, Head of Development and Strategy

Mrs R Moir, Principal Administrator, Corporate Services

Mrs C Nicoll, Administrative Assistant, Corporate Services

Mr A S Park in the Chair

Business

An asterisk in the margin denotes a recommendation to the Council.
All decisions with no marking in the margin are delegated to the Committee.

1.  Apologies For Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr S J Shiels, Mrs L MacDonald and Mr A Gordon.

2.   Highland Council Renewable Energy Strategy

At a Special Meeting of the Highland Council held on 22 March 2006 to hear a number of representations in relation to the Council’s revised Draft Highland Renewable Energy Strategy, it had been noted that a Special Meeting of this Committee would be held to consider the revised Draft Strategy, with a view to final approval by the Council on 4 May 2006, following which the revised Strategy would come into force as supplementary planning guidance.

 

There had been circulated Report No. PDET33/06 dated 11 April 2006 by the Director of Planning and Development recounting the preparation of the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy, the consultation procedures that had been followed after production of a Consultative Draft Strategy in Autumn 2005, and the responses received to date.  Notes of public meetings held in late 2005 and the Draft Minutes of the Special Council meeting of 22 March formed Appendices to the report.   There had also been circulated booklets comprising (i) the revised “Highland Renewable Energy Strategy – April 2006”, incorporating Planning Guidelines, and (ii) the Summary of Representations.

 

In speaking to the report and to the terms of the revised Draft Strategy, Mr M Greaves, the Head of Development and Strategy, outlined the process followed in developing the Draft Strategy: the establishment and work of the Renewable Energy Strategy Working Group; the appointment of the consulting firm Aquatera Ltd to support the Strategy’s preparation; the publication of the Working Group’s documents on the Council’s web site; the representations heard; the public consultation process carried out; and the Special Meeting of the Highland Council held on 22 March 2006.  He went on the summarise the layout and content of the Draft Strategy and to highlight the revisions made to the Consultative Draft, in light of the responses received and of further modelling using the Strategic Renewable Energy Resource Assessment (RERA) for the Highland Area. 

 

Mr Greaves reminded Members that the decision to draw up a Highland Renewable Energy Strategy had been made in light of the volume of related planning applications coming before the Council, with particular reference to wind farm applications; the Scottish Executive’s targets in relation to electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2010 and 2020 respectively; and the latter’s failure to produce a national Strategy offering guidance and assistance to the Council in its determination of these planning applications and in making its contribution to meeting the Executive’s targets.  While work on an Executive policy had commenced, this was not expected to come to a conclusion in the near future, nor to be as detailed as the Highland Strategy.  The preparation of the latter sat within the context of the Council’s existing approved Structure Plan policy in favour of renewable energy development.  Mr Greaves also reminded Members that, whereas in the short-term the focus would inevitably be on onshore wind development, this being the most mature technology, the Council also wished to see development of new technologies permitting the exploitation of other renewable resources such as wave, tidal and biomass.  At the same time, the Council had a responsibility to balance economic development and environmental interests.

 

In highlighting the revisions to the Consultative Draft, and in relating these to the representations received, Mr Greaves reminded Members that the Scottish Executive’s targets envisaged a baseline of 6GW of new renewables capacity by 2020; the Council’s Consultative Draft had provided for 4.8GW of overall installed Highland capacity, within which some 2000MW of strategically planned onshore wind capacity had been envisaged.  The Consultative Draft had been accompanied by proposed locational maps indicating 4 types of land categorisation for onshore wind development, identified using the RERA model and taking into account a wide range of constraint factors, these categories being: preferred development areas, possible development areas, possible secondary development areas and areas with a presumption against development.  At the Special Meeting of the Council held on 22 March 2006, a general view had emerged that the capacity figures envisaged for Highland were over-ambitious and also that the locational maps should be streamlined, with a desire being expressed for options to be presented in relation to strategically planned installed capacity for onshore wind. 

 

Accordingly, the revised Draft Strategy as circulated recommended an amended target of 4GW of overall capacity and offered figures for different onshore wind capacity options, with a recommended preference for 1400MW of strategically planned capacity by the year 2020; also a recommended downgrading of export tide and local generation each by 100MW, from 500MW to 400MW.  In addition, the locational maps had been significantly streamlined, with additional and revised datasets having been factored into the RERA model.  The category of “possible secondary development area” had been deleted, permitting a simpler “traffic light” colour coding system of green sites (preferred), yellow (possible) and red (presumption against), with a reduction in the number of sites falling into each category.  In the revised Draft, sites were designated as green where they comprised 25 or more contiguous 1km grid squares each showing optimal conditions of relatively low planning constraints with good energy production/technical feasibility and proximity to the grid network, and thus capacity for commercial “export” development, the net effect being the identification of 3 areas: East Sutherland, Easter Ross and the Monadhliath Mountains.  This reflected the recommendation being made to Members that the Council adopt a “cluster policy” for major developments, to limit widespread visual impact.  A number of smaller sites, with possible suitability for single commercial wind farms or for community use generation, were designated as yellow and comprised between 6 and 25 contiguous 1km grid squares as above.  In reviewing the revised locational recommendations, Mr Greaves also drew attention to the impact of the amended proposals on zones of visual influence; to issues of grid capacity; and to the importance of establishing a coherent and robust Strategy based on consistent planning criteria.

 

In response to Members’ questions, Mr Greaves clarified that the recommended revised targets within the Draft Strategy indicated potentially developing up to half the area of the identified preferred locations.  Should Members wish to revert to higher targets, this would mean either more intensive development of the areas as identified or a relaxation of the revised RERA criteria to permit the restoration of other formerly preferred areas.  He confirmed that the Strategy and its associated planning guidelines, when adopted, would fall to be considered in the determination of applications submitted prior to their adoption; but also reminded Members that the outcome of the RERA model, while it could help design an overall Strategy, was not itself a tool for the determination of individual applications. 

 

During discussion, a number of Members deplored media coverage suggesting criticism of the role of Council officials in the development of the Draft Strategy, in particular that of the Director of Planning and Development, and in contrast expressed their appreciation of the work carried out in recent months by the Working Group and the officials in bringing these proposals to their present stage of development. 

 

Differing views were expressed in relation to the Strategy revisions.  Some Members welcomed the reductions in the capacity targets, and in the number of preferred/possible sites shown on the locational maps, as an appropriate and reasonable response to the outcome of the consultation exercise, demonstrating the Council’s accountability to the views of the public.  Others expressed disappointment at what was perceived as a shift from a lightly constrained policy to a more highly constrained one.  They regretted the apparent reduction in the Council’s commitment to addressing fuel poverty and to making a contribution to combating climate change and also feared the negative message this revision might send out to potential investors in Highland, given that it might suggest a lack of commitment to the benefits of renewable energy generation and to the economic development opportunities this industry could offer to the Highlands.

 

There was general support for comments made on specific provisions within the Strategy, including:

 

• the locational map identification of “possible” sites for community-scale developments should not exclude appropriate development of other sites where specific local benefit could be identified, in particular where this might support other existing or future local economic activity; a degree of flexibility should therefore be maintained
• Council support for the potential of tidal energy development should be emphasised, with recognition given to the potential of the Lochaber area in this context
• the potential of biomass should be highlighted and the scope for helping to promote mixed commercial/native woodland recognised
• a statement should be included supporting the promotion of community ownership and improved levels of community benefit.

 

After discussion, Mr J Gray, seconded by Mr G M Smith, moved that the Draft Strategy retain the figure of 2000MW for strategically planned installed capacity for onshore wind, as set out in the Consultative Draft Strategy issued in Autumn 2005.

 

As an Amendment, Mr A S Park, seconded by Mr F R M Keith, moved that the planned capacity figure be amended to 1400 MW, as recommended in the revised Draft Strategy circulated for the meeting.

  
 

For the Motion

 

 

 

For the Amendment

 

 

The AMENDMENT was CARRIED by 13 votes to 3.

 

* Decision

 

A further motion by Mr G M Smith that the Committee not recommend that the Council approve the Draft Strategy having failed to find a seconder, the Committee AGREED to recommend:

 

(a) that the Council approve the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy April 2006, incorporating Planning Guidelines, as supplementary planning policy in support of the Development Plan, taking into account the minor amendments generally supported during debate; and
(b) completion during Summer 2006 of the associated voluntary Strategic Environmental Assessment procedures via the Scottish Gateway.

The meeting ended at 4.45 p.m.