The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
SNP accused of ‘outrageous’ power grab over windfarm plan
Ministers are facing questions over their intervention in a planning application for a China-backed windfarm.
The SNP administration has been accused of subverting local democracy by using a rarely-used power to “call-in” plans over the proposed 72-turbine Inch Cape windfarm, off the Angus coast.
The application takeover by the Scottish Government was confirmed on Monday, the day Nicola Sturgeon started a week-long trade to China.
Opposition politicians said it is “outrageous” that the Government has grabbed the decision from councillors before they had a chance to consider it.
The Inch Cape site is owned by Red Rock Power, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned investment fund, the State Development and Investment Corporation.
A new planning application includes plans to build a substation and cable infrastructure at the former Cockenzie power plant in East Lothian.
Alexander Stewart, for the Scottish Conservatives, said the call-in is an “outrageous move from the Scottish Government and completely tramples over local democracy”.
Labour MSP Iain Gray said: “The SNP Government should not be overstepping the boundaries of local democracy and centralising decisions ahead of democratically elected local councillors.”
Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur said: “Cutting local representatives out of the loop, before they have even come to a decision, risks giving the impression that Scottish ministers are more interested in touting for Chinese business than respecting local decision making.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Cockenzie Power Station site is included in the National Planning Framework 3 and this application may raise matters of national importance.
“Calling it in will allow further consideration of the case by ministers before they issue a decision on whether or not planning consent should be granted.”