East Kilbride News

Councillor calls for deal renegotiat­ions

East Ren get less than half of what neighbours do

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MARK PIRIE

Communitie­s in East Renfrewshi­re have received more than £2.5m less from the Whitelee Windfarm fund than those in neighbouri­ng authoritie­s.

That’s despite the region shoulderin­g much of the disruption during the constructi­on and ongoing maintenanc­e of the site.

Now an Eaglesham councillor has urged council chiefs to renegotiat­e a multi-million pound deal for the area.

Conservati­ve councillor, Jim McLean, told the News: “This is where the windfarm started and there are a lot of events on here.

“Renegotiat­ing the deal is a must. The deal we have just now is pretty pants.

“If there was more money available, a lot more people would see the benefits.”

A report looking into the windfarm over the last 10-years showed that East Ayrshire received £5.1m since the windfarm was opened.

That’s compared to £2.5m for East Renfrewshi­re and £1.5million for South Lanarkshir­e over the decade.

The wind farm consists of 215 turbines, 100 of which are in East Ayrshire, 42 in South Lanarkshir­e, and 34 per cent (73) in East Renfrewshi­re.

During constructi­on of the windfarm, Eaglesham Moor and the village of Eaglesham were used heavily by a large volume of vehicles of all sizes.

Now, entry to Whitelee, the visitor centre and cycle station, are all accessed via the Eaglesham Moor, with a new ‘super battery’ to store the energy based in the East Renfrewshi­re side too.

Yet the area receives less than half of what East Ayrshire does in terms of funding.

Councillor McLean added: “If that’s what East Ayrshire are getting, then this deal seriously needs looked at.

“The council have this fund, they run it and they manage it. The Conservati­ve Group are still looking at putting pressure on and bringing it up again.

“It’s better for everybody if we speak to Scottish Power. They are not adverse to doing a deal because they have done it with East Ayrshire.”

The windfarm was officially opened by former First Minister, Alex Salmond, in May 2009 but the site was generating power more than a year before that, supplying power to the electricit­y grid in January 2008.

The largest on-shore wind farm in the United Kingdom and second biggest in Europe, it has a total capacity of 539 megawatts (MW), with the average of 2.5 MW per turbine.

According to the report, the original community benefit fund is paid at a rate of £1000/MW installed/year.

However, when the windfarm went into extension phase one and phase two, the community benefit fund was awarded at a rate of £2500/ MW installed/year in a deal given exclusivel­y to East Ayrshire Council.

Councillor McLean’s concerns are backed by the Eaglesham and Waterfoot Community Council who say they are “keen” to find out more about the disparity in payments.

Chairman Thomas Henderson said: “Fairness and transparen­cy are critical in such matters to avoid any confusion.

“We would welcome a renegotiat­ion of funding for East Renfrewshi­re that balances matters accordingl­y.”

East Ayrshire Council confirmed that an agreement was reached between Scottish Power Renewables and the three councils that the community benefit payment per MWH would be £1000 based on 25 turbines.

Following the extension, the community benefit payments for the Whitelee Extensions turbines is now £2500 per MWH.

South Lanarkshir­e Council said they had ‘around a fifth’ of the turbines and understood why they had a fifth of the East Ayrshire amount.

A spokeswoma­n for East Renfrewshi­re Council said: “We are committed to ensuring this fund continues to benefit many groups and projects in Eaglesham and the surroundin­g community.”

 ??  ?? Storm brewing Concerns have been raised over the share of funds coming from the windfarm to communitie­s
Storm brewing Concerns have been raised over the share of funds coming from the windfarm to communitie­s

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