Fears voiced over new coal power station at Hunterston

SCOTLAND'S two leading environmental agencies have raised serious concerns about proposals for a new coal-fired power station to be built in Ayrshire.

In response to the Scottish Government's consultation into plans for the controversial Hunterston plant - submitted by Ayrshire Power - Scottish Natural Heritage warned that the development would cause "significant damage" to the nearby Portencross nature site.

It also said that pollution from the power station could potentially affect other sites ten miles away including rare peatland habitats in Ayrshire and birdlife in the Clyde Muirshiel hills.

Separately, the Scottish Environmental protection Agency (SEPA), called for more information about the project's effect on pollution and the marine environment - warning that the lack of clarity surrounding the effects of the scheme made it impossible to say if it would ever be able to give its consent.

But SNH admitted that if the power plant - Scotland's first new fossil fuel power station in more than three decades - had not been in the government's National Planning Framework (NPF) it would have considered making a formal objection ahead of the Scottish Government's decision next month.

Inclusion in the NPF - the Scottish Government's blueprint for future development - means the need for a project is taken to have already been established and should not normally be an issue considered by the planning authority.

Environmental campaigners opposed to the power plant have welcomed the agencies' comments, but said they were disappointed that formal objections had not been lodged.

Ayrshire Power's station would have to include technology to capture carbon emissions from at least 300MW of the plant's capacity from the start but this would mean about three-quarters of its emissions would be released into the atmosphere.

Nearly 10,000 people from 100 countries have written to the Scottish Government opposing the scheme. The company claims that it will ultimately be able to capture 90 per cent of emissions using carbon capture and storage technology.

Aedn Smith, head of planning and development at RSPB Scotland, said: "SNH are the Scottish Government's official natural heritage watchdog and advisor, charged with protecting our best assets for wildlife and for nature, so we are struggling to understand why they have not objected to this development which will destroy a significant part of a nationally important wildlife site.

"Whilst we welcome the fact they recognise that the development will cause significant damage to the Portencross Site of Special Scientific Interest and also have a wider impact on a number of other internationally important wildlife sites further afield, their response is still short of the mark."

Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, added: "This is a major thumbs-down from Scotland's nature guardians."

Muir Miller, project director at Ayrshire Power said: "We acknowledge the views of both Scottish Natural Heritage and SEPA and thank them for their valuable input and for their assistance in reviewing our proposals.

"Given the nature, scale and complexity of this project, we always anticipated that some additional work would be required once all the relevant organisations had been able to analyse our application in detail.

"We have been working closely with all the key stakeholders throughout the process and we will continue to do so in the coming weeks in order to address any issues raised."