Councils need to count cost of wind energy ‘obsession’ urge Scottish Tories

By JULIA HORTON
Published on 19/10/2012 00:00

MOST councils across Scotland have no idea how much they are spending on processing windfarm proposals because they are flooded with “inappropriate” planning applications from speculative developers, the Scottish Conservatives claimed yesterday.

Only two of the 32 Scottish local authorities were able to state the total cost of dealing with windfarm applications since 2007, with Orkney 
paying nearly half a million pounds while the Borders paid around a quarter of a million.

Four other councils spent tens of thousands on consultant and legal fees during the same period, taking the overall expenditure of half a dozen relatively small authorities to around £800,000 over five years.

The Scottish Conservatives suggest the total cost across Scotland could run into millions of pounds.

The party urged the Scottish Government to calculate the exact financial cost of its wind energy “obsession” to allow an informed decision on recently rejected calls from councils for a moratorium on applications because of the massive impact handling schemes has on finances.

Scottish Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Liz Smith said: “It is extremely worrying that so many of these local authorities are unable to outline to overall financial cost of this.”