Highland community councils join forces to demand an end to ‘salami slicing’ of applications for major energy projects
A growing number of community councils in the Highlands have joined forces calling for greater clarity on plans for major energy projects.
So far, 46 community councils have signed a statement of support for a motion to be debated at a reconvened Highland Council meeting on Monday.
The motion, proposed by Aird and Loch Ness councillor Helen Crawford, outlines measures aimed at giving local communities a stronger voice on a multitude of energy transmission projects being proposed in the region.
It was among agenda matters still to be discussed at the full council meeting on September 19 when councillors voted to halt proceedings at 7pm after nine hours of debate.
• Delay to debate on giving the public greater clarity on major energy infrastructure plans
As a growing number of community councils sign a unified statement of support for the motion, there have been calls for an immediate halt of the “salami slicing” of applications for energy projects.
Kirkhill and Bunchrew community councillor Cameron Kemp urged all Highland councillors to get behind it.
“This will show that the Highland Council cares and supports communities in their struggle to deal with the overwhelming onslaught that they are facing with the current major energy infrastructure proposals,” he said.
“Initiatives like the online mapping would do much to publicise our serious concerns and enable fair and appropriate decisions to be taken, resulting in less damaging outcomes for the people of the Highlands.
“An immediate end to ‘salami slicing’ of applications, specific training for community councillors, and a robust review of the actions that Highland Council should be able to take to ensure local community views are considered in the planning process, are vital going forwards.
“If, for whatever reason, the Highlands are going to be expected to host this infrastructure for the benefit of the rest of the UK, we need to see much more superior solutions.”
He said underground and undersea cables were already being used elsewhere.
“It is absolutely vital to every one of us that the energy infrastructure proposals emerging right now should not end up being something that we all live to regret,” Mr Kemp said.
“Our landscape and communities should not be destroyed for the sake of the profits of multi-national energy companies.”
Caithness West Community Councillor Patricia Groves said: “Our rural area in the north of Scotland is fast becoming surrounded by wind farms and Highland Council have failed, in the past, to look at the bigger picture when granting planning permission.”
Strathpeffer Community Councillor Ron McAulay hoped councillors would vote for the motion and not be driven by individual party-political lines.
John McHardy of Kiltearn Community Council, which represents Evanton and the wider parish, said adoption of the points in the motion would help to reassure residents that they had a voice which mattered.
He said Kiltearn was currently subject to a number of battery, windfarm and powerlines proposals.
He said it was very confusing for residents when consultation was often presented in parts which had resulted in apparent disinterest or by default, agreement to a particular proposal.
Nairn River Community Council is being asked to comment on three new battery parks although there will be five battery energy storage system (BESS) sites - two already have planning consent - within a half-mile radius.
At the same time, the draft local plan proposes further development of the Grigorhill industrial site, to meet expansion demand of current and new businesses.
Community councillor Loreine Thomson said: “This will create substantive new jobs for the area and ensure a sustainable economy for the area.
“Residents and businesses are concerned about the number of BESS sites within such a confined area and the impact any major thermal incident will have on homes, businesses, farms, crops and animals and on woodland, wildlife and biodiversity in general.”
The Ness District Salmon Fishery Board (NDSFB) has voiced its support for Cllr Crawford’s motion.
Director Brian Shaw said: “The references to cumulative impacts and ‘salami slicing’ are particularly important.
“The cumulative impact of multiple pump storage hydro schemes on Loch Ness is an issue that we have consistently highlighted.
“Even the smallest of the proposed Loch Ness pump storage schemes has an impact on levels in Loch Ness, and flows in the River Ness, but then when you explain the cumulative impact of all the proposed schemes even the most ardent supporters of hydro developments are shocked.
“Piecemeal applications, or ‘salami-slicing’, are a source of great frustration to us all and they undermine local democracy.”
As well as citing concerns over an application for the Loch Kemp pump storage hydro scheme, he said the proposals for the Glen Earrach scheme had not included the necessary major substation and pylon line connecting to the national grid.
