Onshore Wind Energy

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 June 2015.

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Photo of Fergus Ewing Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party

We did not get many facts from Mr Fraser, so perhaps I should introduce one or two. There have been 68 section 36 onshore wind applications, of which 65 per cent have been consented, 22 per cent have been rejected and 13 per cent have been withdrawn.

We have considered each application, as we are required to do as ministers in the Scottish Government, strictly on their merits. In addition, we have addressed the previous policy’s shortcomings, to which I have alluded previously, by increasing community benefit.

When Allan Wilson was the minister for energy, I suggested to him that we should increase the community benefit, so that communities would gain. Do members know what he said? He said that if we did that, we would risk all the development going to Wales. We have increased the community benefit to £5,000 a megawatt a year, and £10,000 a megawatt for community schemes. Above all, communities should have an ownership stake. We have also tightened up designations in relation to issues in the cumulative impact guidance and the designation of wild land.

As I say, I was never in favour of unconstrained development, so I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify that—[Interruption.]