FOI/202300369031 · FOI/EIR · unclear
South Lanarkshire Wind Farms Planning Applications: EIR release
Information requested
"South Lanarkshire Wind Farms: I would be grateful if you could please inform me of how many applications for Wind farms which have been determined have been received by the Scottish Government for the period 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2022. Of these could you please inform me how many have been approved and how many refused with the reasons for those which were refused." You subsequently clarified the following : "I would be grateful if you could provide the figures for applications for two or more wind turbines".
Response
By way of background information in the first instance, I can confirm that any proposal to construct or operate a power generation scheme with a capacity under the threshold of 50 megawatts are made to the relevant local planning authority and require planning permission under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Applications with capacities exceeding 50 megawatts fall to be determined by Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act. A public inquiry is only mandatory when the local planning authority object to the proposed development. 4 appeals under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 were determined which were received within the period requested. Of those 4, 2 were refused and 2 were granted. 7 applications under the Electricity Act were determined which were received within the period requested. Of those 7, 1 was refused and 6 were granted. The local planning authority objected to the one case that was refused. No objection was made to the six applications granted permission. Please find attached 2 tables containing the information you requested and detailed above. Table 1 refers to Planning permission appeals , in South Lanarkshire, in respect of windfarms dealt with under the Town and Country Planning(Scotland) Act 1997. Table 2 refers to applications, in South Lanarkshire, determined by Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act. Decision letters containing reasons for the decision(s) can be found by clicking on the blue links to each decision in the attached tables.
Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
You can also access those decisions by accessing the DPEA and Energy Consents websites and using the following method(s) : Table 1 decisions - You can find the information on the DPEA website here Scottish Government - Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) (scotland.gov.uk) by clicking 'search' and entering the case reference number in the simple search box. Click on the blue link and then the 'Decision Outcome' tab to open the decision notice. Energy Consent Website : You can find the information on the energy consents website here Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Help and by going to the ‘Search’ tab, followed by the ‘Advanced Search’ tab and using input application receipt date range, case type “development”, project type “Wind Farm” and case status type “consented”. Then hit GO for a list of cases, the same can be then be done for “refused”.
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