Highland community benefit policy launched at Inverness conference
The Highland Council will launch its revised Community Benefit Policy on Friday 24 February at a conference being held at the Centre for Health Science, Raigmore, Inverness. The conference will be a precursor to five workshops being held across the Highlands to enable local communities to discuss in more detail the guidelines that support the policy.
The keynote speakers at the conference will be Fergus Ewing MSP Minister for Energy Enterprise and Tourism and Dr Michael Foxley, Leader of The Highland Council.
The policy is an important step towards securing significant local funding for communities across Highland from renewable energy developments. It raises the contribution from developers to £5,000 per MW and uses four Allocation Factors to determine its distribution across affected communities.
Councillor Isobel McCallum, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Rural Affairs and Climate Change Strategy Group, said: “The five one day workshops across the Highlands are designed specifically for communities and, in particular, Community Councils to attend. The conference is a launch platform for the new community benefit policy. The workshops will enable those attending to look, in particular, at the working and detail of the Allocation Factors.
“Following invitation to a range of invitees, including those Community Trusts and Community Companies dealing with Community Benefit locally, it has become obvious that not all places at the conference will be taken. We are now, therefore, extending invitations to community councils that are affected by Community Benefit.”
The workshops, being staged between 10 am – 3 pm, are being held as follows:-
The Council will also launch its new Concordat with developers of onshore and offshore renewable energy projects. The Concordat sets out the terms of a new relationship between the Council and Developers of renewable energy developments, based on mutual respect and partnership.
More details about the Community Benefit Conference are available from Charles Stephen at charles.stephen@highland.gov.uk or 01463 724246. More details about the Community Benefit Workshops are available at /livinghere/communityplanning/communitybenefit/
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