'Support' for biomass plant is scorned

Published on Thursday 8 April 2010 22:55

BACKERS of a controversial energy plant earmarked for the heart of Edinburgh's waterfront have sparked anger after declaring almost three-quarters of local people support the scheme.

Campaign groups fighting Forth Energy's plans for a 360 million plant that will burn woodchip shipped into Scotland from overseas have ridiculed claims the development will bring "positive benefits" to Leith.

Community groups have joined forces to fight the development, planned to be built just 400 metres away from existing homes, while growing numbers of councillors and MSPs have attacked the proposed scheme.

Forth Energy, which insists the docklands site is an "ideal location" for the plant, released figures to The Scotsman yesterday in the wake of a three-day consultation carried out at the Ocean Terminal shopping centre in February.

They found that 96 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of renewable energy generation, 74 per cent supported biomass energy schemes, and 73 per cent felt the proposed Leith scheme would bring positive benefits to the area.

However, Forth Energy, a joint venture between dock owner Forth Ports and Scottish & Southern Energy, later admitted it had collected fewer than 100 questionnaires, and had not kept a record of where respondents were from.

A spokeswoman confirmed that no-one living near the proposed site, close to the thriving bars and restaurants at the Shore, had been contacted directly and admitted there were still no plans to do so.

The spokeswoman said: "We believe it is not best practice to doorstep people. The exhibition at Ocean Terminal was widely publicised and it ran for three days. We believe we have been as open and accessible as possible."

When plans for the biomass plant were unveiled last August, they were trumpeted as helping Scotland to realise its potential as a "powerhouse in renewables". It is claimed the facility will use around 1.3 million tonnes per year of biomass fuel to generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity.

But there are mounting concerns the plant, which will have a 325ft smoke stack – 130ft higher than the Scott Monument on Princes Street – will become a "blot on the landscape", stall wider regeneration efforts, and become a health hazard for local residents.

Critics claim Forth Energy has failed to fully publicise its plans by refusing to publish images of the proposed plant and how its height would compare to existing buildings in the area.

Campaign groups say they have been forced to create their own mock-ups for local residents.

A spokesman for the Greener Leith campaign group said: "

We know the display materials used in the consultation did not make any attempt to show the main negative impacts of the plant."

BENEFITS QUESTIONED

A NEW report has called into question the benefits of large biomass plants, warning they could have a detrimental effect on the environment, threaten jobs and release millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

The Confederation of Forest Industries' study has emerged in the wake of concerns from Friends of the Earth Scotland about the environmental benefits of plants which will burn woodchip shipped into Scotland from as far afield as the US and Canada.

Four are planned on Forth Ports land – at Leith, Rosyth, Dundee and Grangemouth.