Extra funding to process Scots wind turbine applications
Extra funding is being made available to Scottish planning officers to help them process wind turbine applications.
The Scottish government has put aside £673,000 to help “struggling” planning authorities process wind turbine applications. The money will be paid out in response to individual bids from planners.
Land agent Craig Miles from Smiths Gore’s planning team said the additional funding was welcome, so long as it resulted in a shorter determination period and a more informed assessment of potential landscape considerations.
“They [planning authorities] are frequently finding it difficult to consider the merits of renewable energy proposals because their own policy framework against which applications are assessed is often insufficiently detailed,” he said.
“This means that consideration is highly subjective, the certainty of getting permission is very low and there is usually a very long period of determination.”
He was concerned the additional money would generate more capacity studies and restrict large areas from wind development.
“While a result of the additional funding may be that planning authorities take decisions more quickly, this may not automatically mean that there is a better chance of meeting the Scottish government’s target of delivering the equivalent of at least 100% of gross electricity consumption from renewables by 2020,” said Mr Miles.
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