UK funding for wind farm site a factor in planning row, says minister

SNP ministers took over a controversial planning application partly to help enrich the Chinese-state backers who met Nicola Sturgeon last week, it has emerged.

Planning Minister Kevin Stewart said his “call-in” of a grid connection for the Inch Cape offshore wind farm gave it a better chance of securing UK Government funding next year. More than £500 million is being made available to renewables firms under the so-called “contracts for difference” scheme as part of a nationwide drive for clean growth.

The call-in means SNP ministers will now have the final say over whether to approve the project rather than East Lothian Council.

The wind farm and a proposed substation at the former Cockenzie power plant are being driven by a subsidiary of China’s State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC).

Mr Stewart began the call-in process on April 4, but it was formally executed on April 9, the day before the First Minister met SDIC in Beijing on a visit to China.

The timing prompted the opposition to claim the Scottish Government was kowtowing to the Chinese authorities and ministers were riding roughshod over local democracy.

There was also anger the substation could wreck an alternative council-backed plan for the redevelopment of the Cockenzie site, and cost the local economy jobs.

Answering an urgent question from East Lothian Labour MSP Iain Gray, Mr Stewart suggested the wind farm’s finances had been a factor in the call-in.

He said: “There is a deadline in quarter one of 2019 for a bid for UK funding for the Inch Cape development through the contracts for difference process. To be eligible, all permissions and consents must be in place. Calling in the application gives a greater chance of a timely decision ahead of funding deadline.”

Mr Gray pointed out that in 2014 a substation application for the wind farm on a nearby site was left to the council to decide – when it was under Spanish owners.

He added: “Can the minister understand it looks to my constituents as if he is prepared to ride roughshod over their interests and aspirations, to protect the interests and aspirations of a Chinese-backed project that will create not one job in East Lothian?”

Mr Stewart said there was there was “no connection whatsoever” between the call-in and Ms Sturgeon’s China visit.

It looks ... as if he is prepared to ride roughshod over their interests