Power plant threatens city waterfront

Published on Saturday 20 March 2010 19:34

MULTI-million-pound plans to regenerate Edinburgh's waterfront have been plunged into chaos after council leaders warned of major concerns over a £360 million energy plant earmarked for the heart of the city's docklands.

Senior councillors have raised fears over the environmental, health and aesthetic impact of a biomass power station that would process up to 1.3 million tonnes of material every year. They say it risks stalling the wider regeneration of the area, which is intended to feature 16,000 homes, as well as new schools, office blocks, visitor attractions, hotels and restaurants.

Edinburgh's council leader Jenny Dawe said the plant may affect the health of residents and workers, after research commissioned by the authority ruled out the use of biomass boilers in schools because of concerns pupils would be affected by fumes.

The Leith scheme has been earmarked for a site just 400 metres from existing homes by the firm behind the scheme, Forth Energy, a joint venture between Forth Ports and Scottish and Southern Energy.

Dawe said: "Clearly the impact of this plant in terms of the fumes it produces is going to have to be looked at very closely. We decided against having small biomass boilers in a number of our schools after significant health and safety concerns were raised.

"We had very strong advice that there may be a danger from having biomass boilers in air-quality hotspots where there are large numbers of people living or a lot of traffic."

Edinburgh planning chief Jim Lowrie said the plant was likely to weaken the case for Edinburgh to attract a 100-metre-high Ferris wheel as a new tourist attraction in Leith and admitted there were fears that views from around the historic port would be ruined by the "blot on the landscape". He also warned that the development did not fit in with an agreed masterplan for the docks.

Lowrie, head of the council's planning committee, said he expected the authority to have a "major say" on whether the scheme should be approved or not.

"I'm not too happy with it, particularly as a lot of the material they are going to be using to power the plant is to be shipped into Leith. There are a lot of concerns locally about the impact the fumes will have, particularly on elderly people, and with new schools being built in the area.

"This big wheel is supposed to be coming to Leith over the next few years, an expansion of Ocean Terminal is urgently needed, and we are talking about trying to attract more cruise liners to Leith, but this could be a real blot on the landscape and put off future development."

Forth Ports was responsible for the biggest ever application to come before the city's planning committee when it won approval for the blueprint in August 2008.

The massive regeneration of the 350-acre site around the Imperial, Victoria, Albert and Edinburgh docks was meant to see the creation of 15,000 new homes, a new secondary school for 1,000 pupils, and three primary schools for more than 1,300 pupils.

Forth Ports has since produced detailed proposals for the first two phases of the revamp, which would include the creation of a new cruise liner terminal, an expansion for the Ocean Terminal shopping complex, five hotels and almost 2,000 homes.

In recent months there have been growing fears that the regeneration has stalled, and last month the city council agreed to borrow 84m to help get the long-awaited transformation under way.

Scotland on Sunday understands the council's support for the docklands overhaul has been put at risk by the biomass scheme, which Forth Ports claims has the potential to help Scotland become a "powerhouse" in renewables.

Most of the fuel is expected to come from woodchip, with thousands of tonnes expected to be shipped into Leith from as far afield as the United States.

The plant, expected to generate 200 megawatts of electricity, would be 65 metres high with a 100-metre tall chimney stack – higher than the Scott Monument.

Critics are angry that under existing legislation the Scottish Government will have the final say on whether the power station goes ahead, with the council only being asked for its opinion.

Rob Kirkwood, spokesman for the Leith Links Residents Association, said: "There is already massive opposition against this development from all manner of interest groups. If the views of people in the area mean anything to Forth Energy they will abandon these proposals."

Forth Energy is carrying out a consultation exercise over the proposed plant in advance of detailed proposals being submitted to the Scottish Government in the summer.

A spokesman added: "The control of emissions from our proposed plant are a priority and we are undertaking detailed air quality and dispersion modelling as part of the environmental impact assessment process.

"The methods we are utilising are being agreed with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, the results of which will inform our plant design process, and in particular the flue height.

"Our proposed plant will comply with all relevant requirements in relation to safe emission levels."