Committee To Discuss Highland Renewable Energy Strategy
At a special meeting of the Planning, Development, Europe and Tourism Committee on Wednesday (19 April) Councillors will debate the Highland Renewable Energy Strategy and Planning Guidelines which, when approved, will guide developers and local communities on the wide range of issues governing the industry.
The Strategy, which addresses not only wind energy but also hydro, wave, tidal, biomass and other technologies, draws together two previous draft documents and contains some significant changes following a period of public consultation.
Changes include the reduction in proposed output of on-shore wind power from 2000 to 1400 mega watts, the reduction of the preferred areas from 11 to 3 and a modest reduction of local and tidal energy output to reflect that the latter is still only at the research and development stage.
Director of Planning and Development, John Rennilson said: "At the start of the consultation we made it clear that being open and transparent and involving interested parties and individuals was of great importance to us if we were to produce a comprehensive document. I am pleased to say that the threads of the consultation have now been drawn together.
"We have listened carefully to feedback and have taken onboard many of the comments made. The hard work and time spent on this means that the Highlands will be the first area of Scotland to have a detailed renewable energy policy which could prove to be a model other authorities follow."
The strategy covers the nature, location and scale of future developments; the promotion of economic development potential; social and environmental impacts and infrastructure implications. The strategy will inform future decisions, influence policy makers and promote a positive Highland vision, while maximising the gain and minimising the impact of developments.
Following Wednesday’s meeting the Strategy will be presented to the full Council on 4 May before being fully adopted.
Notes To Editors:
Between February and August 2005, the Council convened a Renewable Energy Working Group with the objective of framing a comprehensive renewable energy policy for the Highlands. The Group comprised six Councillors together with co-opted representatives from the following organisations: HIE, SNH, HOST (VisitScotland Highland), HI-REG and SRF. The Group was advised by external consultants, Aquatera Ltd, and Council officials. Several reports were commissioned to examine the potential for exploiting different forms of renewable energy (both on-shore and off-shore) in the context of various technical constraints and planning safeguards.
During the 11 weeks of consultation the Council held 6 public meetings as well as presentations and discussions and 560 responses from the public were received.