The Highland Renewable Energy Strategy was formally approved at the Council meeting held on 4 May 2006.
In May 2008, the Council’s Planning, Environment & Development Committee agreed to begin a review of the spatial planning framework for onshore wind energy development, in response to Scottish Government’s Scottish Planning Policy 6 “Renewable Energy” (March 2007). Further details of that review will be given here as that review progresses.
A copy of the 2006 approved Strategy, which incorporates associated Planning Guidance material, can be downloaded as a .pdf file from the Current Documents section to the right, as can the supporting Renewable Energy Resource Assessment (RERA) and maps, at A1 size, showing prospective development zones for national and major scale (fig 6.2.4) and local scale (fig 6.2.7) onshore wind farms.
Hard copies of the Strategy are also available.
Also availabe is a CD-ROM containing map-based software which facilitates selection of any 1km grid square in Highland and interrogation of the underlying layers which were used to arrive at the policy decision for that square. The CD also contains as a copy of the Strategy and suppporting RERA. The CD-ROM is available to Community Groups through the Highland Council at a cost of £25 (including postage). Companies can obtain the CD-ROM from Aquatera at a cost of £250.
To order copies of either of the above, please contact:
Yvonne MacDonald,
Highland Council,
Planning & Development Service,
Glenurquhart Road,
Inverness,
IV3 5NX.
Telephone: (01463) 702 542
Email: yvonne.macdonald@highland.gov.uk
or
Maureen Brown,
Aquatera Ltd,
Stromness Business Centre,
Stromness,
Orkney,
KW16 3AW.
Telephone: (01856) 850 088
Email: office@aquatera.co.uk
After discussion, Members agreed to make a number of further changes supplementing the earlier outcomes from special meetings of the Council (22 March 2006) and Planning, Development, Europe and Tourism Committee (19 April 2006) which were dedicated to this issue. The Strategy has been approved as supplementary planning policy and will now form a material consideration in the determination of relevant planning applications in Highland alongside the Development Plan (Structure Plan & Local Plans). It will also be used to promote appropriate renewable energy development in terms of achieving local business and community spinoff whilst seeking to influence national policymaking and regulatory activity.
The Strategy emerged from a special Working Group established by the Council in January 2005. This group co-opted expertise from certain external agencies, heard presentations from a range of interested parties and was serviced by specialist consultants, Aquatera. The parent Planning, Development, Europe and Tourism Committee approved a draft Strategy and supporting documents as the basis for wide-ranging public consultations which ran from October 2005 through to January 2006. All documentation was also made available on the internet. Public meetings were attended by over 600 persons and more than 500 written representations were also considered by the Council prior to finalising the Strategy.
The Council is also in the process of making a voluntary Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) submission to the Scottish Gateway.