A particularly well-informed site visitor has commented sharply on the scale of benefit given to – and accepted by – communities in the the Cairndow to Inveraray area by Scottish Power Renewables in connection with the windfarm at Clachan Flats at the head of Loch Fyne.
We have checked the facts given – which are correct – and would recommend those interested to read this story and then consider the information in the comment below from ‘Nonchuk‘.
On and offshore windfarms are being built across and around much of Argyll – and some places, like Tiree, Islay and Kintyre, face profound changes to their local infrastructure – not just to their environmental amenity.
There is a need to develop and agree a common formula for what is known as ‘planning gain’ or ‘community benefit’ which planners would automatically apply to all consents for on and offshore windfarms and other energy generation installations.
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The community deal in question was done almost a decade ago. It is unfair to compare it with what is available today. Another wind farm development currently being built on the other side of Inveraray nets the town nothing because community funds did not exist when this development was approved almost a decade ago. Some of these wind farms take a long time before they break ground and I am sure the community council did their best for the community at the time.
As for part ownership etc, these are all very modern partnership developments and as welcome as they are, these mechanism simply did not exist or were not known about when this application progressed through planning.
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@John Patrick: so perhaps I was a little harsh on those who negotiated the terms of the CLachan Flats deal. But I think the initial criticism stands: the community has been ripped off.
We now know what windfarm developers make from these installations, we can see the leverage communities can wrest for themselves now, and we also know that the demand for viable sites is not going to slacken off for a while yet. Part of this whole process should be a statutory planning gain for communities based on a percentage of the pre-tax profit that a windfarm makes. Let’s say 10% for arguments’ sake, and then let’s back date it to the earliest windfarm developments.
This would not preclude the modern community partnership deals, as they would be subject to the same levy, nor would it mean that windfarm developers would be pauperised, it would simply be another cost they have to absorb into the business model — and believe me when I say 10% of profit will not prevent any windfarm from going ahead.
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@ nonchuck: why demand 10% of profits from wind farms? Do you demand a share of the profits from other businesses in the area? Industrial fish farming on our lochs? The local supermarket, the high street store, the newsagent? Of course not. As I understand it, the wind farm related community funds are entirely voluntary on the part of the wind farm owners. I would have thought it better to congratulate them rather than criticise them.
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@Simon Reeves: Hmm, evidently then you feel that the impact that the windfarms make on our landscapes and our lives in rural areas is of no consequence?
Planning gain is a well established principle – what I am questioning is the inconsistency of the offers made by windfarm develoeprs, and that these offers seem to be based upon how well-informed these communities are. The fact that there is a huge lag between the creation of these deals and the construction of the windfarms means that the differential between what is being negotiated now and what was negotiated then is particularly glaring. A percentage contribution across the board would mean that no community is disadvantaged by its lack of access to relevant information.
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