Windfarms

When an application is made for a development with an electricity generating capacity of 50MW or more, it is considered under Section 36 of the Electricity Act, rather than planning legislation. These applications are submitted to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU) for determination. This means that we are only notified of the proposal and is not the decision-maker: It is not a planning decision in the traditional sense in that there is no planning application being considered.

Role of the Energy Consents Unit (ECU)

The ECU is the decision-maker and administers the process. It is responsible for publicising the application and considering third-party representations. The application pages of the ECU website can be found on the Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit webpage.

You can search for applications using the Scottish Government - Energy Consents Unit - Application Search webpage.

Our Responsibilities

When the ECU seeks a view from ourselves, it is in our capacity as the planning authority.

We assess the technical implications of the proposal, such as landscape and visual impacts, access, noise, and the effect on residential amenity. We then submits its view to the ECU, in the same way as Community Councils and other interested parties do. Our view is then considered alongside other representations.

Because communities have their own opportunity to make representations directly to the ECU, it is not for us to duplicate that process or to seek or reflect those views as part of its own submissions.

Submitting Representations

All third-party representations must be made directly to the ECU and, in addition to those above, we provide a link on the relevant application page of our website to the ECU website, where you can the details of the proposal, the contact details for making representations and also any other representations that have been made. We do not communicate the views of others as part of this process. The ECU will receive and address all representations directly.

Consideration by the Planning and Building Standards Committee

All decisions on our response to S36 notifications are made the Planning and Building Standards Committee before they are issued on behalf of ourselves. In making their decision, should Councillors wish to view any community or individual comments about the application, they are able to do so by checking the ECU website, which they are invited to do within the report on the proposal that goes to the Planning & Building Standards Committee.

A link to the representations is provided for Members within the body of the report, giving them unrestricted access, not just to the representations but to all of the documentation being considered. They are therefore able to gauge the level of interest, whether that be opposition or support, and the reasons for it.

Public Speaking

The Public Speaking protocol at the Planning and Building Standards Committee was introduced to enable verbal representations to be made specifically in relation to planning applications, because we are the body that makes the decision. Because we are not the decision-maker on S36 proposals, there is no equivalent opportunity to speak to the Committee on these proposals, although members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting, in person or online, to hear the debate by the Committee.