£360m power station 'will blight revamp of Leith waterfront'

Published on Monday 15 March 2010 22:10

DEVELOPERS are facing mounting protests over plans for a giant power station on Edinburgh's waterfront amid fears it will become a blot on the capital's landscape.

• The Albert Dock area in Leith. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Campaigners are stepping up their opposition against the 360 million biomass station earmarked for Leith Docks claiming it will stymie the regeneration of the port where new schools, visitor attractions, hotels and housing developments are planned.

The plant is being pursued by Forth Energy, a joint venture between dock owner Forth Ports and Scottish & Southern Energy, for a site previously earmarked for a park. Similar to existing developments in Germany and Sweden, the power station will comprise a boiler house, flue, steam turbine building and biomass storage area.

When plans for the venture were announced last August, Forth Ports said they had the potential to help Scotland become a "real powerhouse" in renewables.

But environmental groups are questioning the sustainability arguments for the plant, which is expected to process up to 1.3 million tonnes of biomass material every year.

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 is less than 400 metres away from existing homes and will be dominated by a smoke stack 100 metres tall – higher than a giant wheel attraction Edinburgh Council is trying to bring to Leith.

Forth Energy documents published online state the development would "inevitably" impact on the local area, with viewpoints across Edinburgh "likely to be those most affected". Under existing legislation, the firm only needs to win the backing of the Scottish Government to get the green light.

Alastair Tibbett, spokesman for the Greener Leith campaign, said: "The actual plant is going to be around 65 metres high, but the stack is proposed to go up to 100 metres. It would seem to cut across much-vaunted view corridors put in place to protect views of the world heritage site. Our main concern is this will be a bad neighbour scheme and put off other developers from going ahead with projects in the area."

Leith Links Residents Association chairman Rob Kirkwood said: "Forth Ports are being very opportunistic. They have seen land values plummeting and know there is major funding available for these kind of projects. Leith Docks was supposed to be a really special area but who is going to want to live next to this?"

Leith councillor Gordon Munro said: "Forth Ports couldn't have gone out of their way more to rub people up the wrong way over this. It will be a huge blot on the landscape if it goes ahead."