Council approves Glen Etive hydro schemes

‘If this attitude was to prevail... would we have ever have had the Glenfinnan Viaduct or all these magnificent crossings in the Highlands?’ Councillor Allan Henderson

Highland councillors approved plans for three hydro schemes in Glen Etive last Wednesday (March 29), taking the total number of schemes to be built in the iconic glen to seven.

Four of Dickins Hydro Ltd’s seven run-of-river hydro applications were granted planning permission by Highland councillors last month. However, the three remaining schemes – those situated within the designated Wild Land Area – were referred back to the full council for review after public backlash.

At a special meeting in Inverness, councillors had their final say on the matter, approving all three of the Wild Land Area Schemes.

Campaign group Save Glen Etive, which helped to amass 12,000 signatories to a petition for the schemes to be rejected, said it was ‘hugely disappointed’ by the council’s decision.

‘A precedent is surely now set for other developments in our “protected” landscapes,’ the group stated.

Glen Etive is currently designated as a National Scenic Area, while some of the hydro schemes fall within a protected Wild Land Areas in the glen. This prompted Lochaber councillor Andrew Baxter to successfully request for a review of these applications.

At the meeting last Wednesday, Mr Baxter refused to support the three schemes due to the ‘unacceptable and unjustified impact’ on the designated wild area.

‘Wild land is nationally important,’ he told councillors. ‘The installation of these man-made structures, both the concrete intake weirs and the substantial access tracks, in my mind have significant and permanent impact on the area that cannot be satisfactorily mitigated or reinstated.’

Scottish Natural Heritage was also criticised by Councillor Baxter for allowing the construction of the schemes within the Wild Land Areas in Glen Etive.

‘I am staggered that it continually remains mute on this subject, on the very Wild Land Areas that it created,’ he added.

Fellow Lochaber councillor Allan Henderson approved the applications and pointed out that the glen was ‘hardly pristine land’ with large areas already well used for heavy industry, citing the former puffer pier and forestry extraction areas as examples.

‘Even although I love the glen as much as any other, and the fact the river will be largely unaffected, I have no difficulties supporting the applications.’

Mr Henderson continued: ‘If this attitude was to prevail from all the people opposing the scheme, would we have ever have had the Glenfinnan Viaduct or all these magnificent crossings of the ravines in the Highlands?

‘We cannot carry on without some form of change.’

Stuart Younie, chief executive officer of Mountaineering Scotland, said he hoped the decision did not set a ‘dangerous’ precedent.

Similarly the John Muir Trust expressed its disappointment at the decision and warned that Scotland’s wild places were ‘being diminished in pursuit of private profit’. HAVEYOURSAY email us at fort@obantimes.co.uk