The issue of renewable energy is never far from the political agenda. This certainly does not seem set to change with First Minister Alex Salmond stating last week “the Scottish government is passionate about our nation’s potential as a world leader in renewable energy”. His dedication and enthusiasm has not gone unrewarded as can be seen with his winning of the Best Politician award at last week’s Green Energy Awards.
The Scottish government certainly seems committed to renewable energy and has set an ambitious target of providing 50% of Scottish energy from renewable sources, with an interim target of 31% by 2011.
To meet these targets, however, it has been necessary to overhaul both the planning and consents processes.
The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006, (coming into force gradually over the next few years until it is fully operational in 2009), aims to address and resolve some of the shortcomings of the current planning process. It is expected that a new hierarchical system which will categorise developments into four different types will allow planning authorities to re-direct resources more appropriately, thus more efficiently dealing with applications, hopefully allowing planners to return a planning decision within the targeted 16 weeks. It is difficult to gauge, at this stage, how successful this overhaul will be as the substantive changes will not occur until Autumn 2008. Despite the somewhat fragmentary nature of the changes, it is hoped that the movement towards quick and efficient planning reviews will not be so gradual.
Jim Mather, the Scottish Energy Minister, has also recognised the need for improvement in the consents procedure. Speaking at the Green Energy Awards, Mr Mather acknowledged the need to provide and adhere to more rigid turnaround times and to return decisions quicker. It is hoped that the second target will be aided by innovations which have recently been introduced to enhance the calibre of consents applications. Such innovations include new published scoping guidance which is designed to guide applicants by providing clear advice from the outset of their applications and a comprehensive checklist for employees who can revert to applicants regarding outstanding information on their applications quickly and easily.
It is hoped that the new procedures will dramatically reduce the time for determining applications, which is currently two years on average, to nine months (where there is no public inquiry).
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