Comhairle “not equipped” for renewables onslaught​

A report to last week’s Comhairle meetings told councillors that “repeated calls to the Scottish Government for additional planning resource have not borne fruit” while some of the Crown Estate money intended to support coastal communities has been diverted towards “supporting the planning service”.

Councillors approved a response to a consultation aimed at speeding up energy-related consents. It stated bluntly: “Existing staffing resource is barely sufficient for delivery of day-to-day planning and yet the planning service is expected to lead the consenting process for the £6.2 billion worth of construction contracts between now and 2030.

“Repeated calls to the Scottish Government for additional Planning resource have not borne fruit and, regrettably, the Comhairle has been forced to divert part of its Crown Estate revenues towards supporting the planning service”.

Referring to the Scottish Government’s offer of a centralised resource, the response stated: “It is unlikely that a new Planning Hub providing technical advice and training will help in dealing with this challenge. The real need is for Planning Officers to process applications in-house”.

Regarding proposals to speed up processes by having consultations at an earlier stage, the Comhairle commented: “Setting time limits for a chronically under-resourced service will be counter-productive and will lead to stress and demotivation”.

It continued: “As things stand, Planning Departments are barely equipped to handle day-to-day applications and this pre-application burden will place further strain on the service. If this goes ahead, Planning Authorities must be resourced to deal with the resulting additional workload”.

The Comhairle response agreed that “effective pre-application processes should speed up the entire process as the application will reflect a deeper understanding of community opinion". However it repeatedly warned that additional work could not be undertaken within existing resources.

In another section, the Comhairle warned: “Removal of the statutory right to a public inquiry should be approached with caution. While enhanced pre-application engagement with the community might speed up processes, the community should never feel disempowered, disenfranchised or excluded.”

Chief planning officer John Cunningham told last week’s meeting that if the Comhairle wished to object to a major development in future, it would be “forced down the legal route”.

The Comhairle response also warned: “The growing resource imbalance between central Government and local authorities could be perceived as part of a drift towards centralised planning and this is something the Comhairle will vigorously oppose”.

Mr Cunningham said a new planner post will be paid from Crown Estate money which will “see us through in the short term” but additional resources will be required “as projects ramp up”.