Highland Council backs energy development plan granting locals a greater voice and clearer understanding of proposals
Highland Council has backed proposals aimed at giving local communities a greater voice and clearer understanding of the huge number of upcoming energy projects.
The fiery meeting saw members of the public gallery occasionally knocking on tables in agreement with a point leading Convener Bill Lobban to threaten he would continue in “silence”.
That led one person to shout out that they thought he was “obnoxious” in what was a tetchy exchange when he refused to allow Councillor Helen Crawford time to consider the amendment.
He later explained that when it comes time to vote there should be no more interruptions - particularly as this meeting had to be resumed from the previous full council gathering.
Conservative Cllr Crawford tabled the original motion and was supported by 62 of community councils as well as MSP Tim Eagle in calling for four significant changes to help locals.
Then the SNP’s Emma Knox called for a number of changes via an amendment but she said in her summing that she was still content for the original motion to pass but that she felt changes were needed.
Ultimately, the chamber voted 33 to 31 in favour of the motion – in what represents a defeat for the SNP-led administration, which typically supports its own political moves at the council.
Speaking after the success of her motion, Cllr Crawford said: “Sixty-two community councils from across the Highlands came together to express their support for this motion. That strength in numbers, that unified Highland voice has been heard loud and clear.
“Passing the motion is merely the first step, we still have a long way to go to deliver the vital support our communities want and deserve. Communities across the Highlands will be watching, expecting to see immediate action.
“Community Councils will be expecting the expert major infrastructure training to be rolled out at pace and to hear reports directly from Highland Council about the tough conversations it needs to have with the Scottish Government to bring an end to piecemeal consideration of major infrastructure applications, so called ‘salami-slicing’.
“Crucially, people across The Highlands are now expecting an imminent announcement from Highland Council to confirm when the holistic mapping will go live.”
She added: “My message to Highland Council is – do not give us any empty promises, we need urgent action and we expect you to deliver. Local communities have spoken and now they are watching. The Motion was passed today, some fine words were said, but now we want to see those words put into action.”
What was proposed?
The first was for “real time mapping” to show all the major renewable energy-related developments both existing and proposed to present “a holistic overview of the applications that are currently in the pipeline”.
The second to have the council leader “continue dialogue” with the Scottish Government to ensure that the “full cumulative” impact of developments is considered and to report back to group leaders.
Third, for the council to take urgent action to better equip communities by providing planning training to Community Councils regarding major applications.
And fourth, for the council to engage with communities regarding the anticipated environmental and socio-economic impacts and to review what actions it can legally take to further ensure that local community views are considered in the planning process.
The counter argument
Cllr Emma Knox sought to amend that motion but said she would be content with what Cllr Crawford had submitted – this provoked a tense moment in the chamber.
In putting forward her changes, Cllr Knox said: “I am happy to support Cllr Crawford’s Motion. I think it’s fair to say that pretty much everyone here has been supportive of what is set out in the motion from the start, and we have been working away in the background to introduce the measures that our communities have been asking for.”
She argued that one section of the motion could potentially “prejudice future planning applications” so that could be removed while the “cumulative impact is already a material consideration” so that could also be removed.
One point of contention was the existence of an interactive map of wind energy development which Cllr Knox wanted to expand and improve on but others thought that it was not fit for purpose.
She also sought to introduce a planning fee that community councils could use to support their community engagement backed up with planned training for those bodies.
