Ministers refuse to `call in’ Dovesdale incinerator planning application

Mar 24 2011 Hamilton Advertiser

THE Scottish Government have rejected demands to intervene in the bitter row over the Dovesdale incinerator plan.

Clydesdale MSP Karen Gillon wrote to Ministers urging them to ‘call in’ the application which was approved by South Lanarkshire Council last month.

Had Holyrood agreed to her request, the ultimate decision on the go-ahead for the £50million waste plant would have been made by Ministers.

However, a spokesman confirmed to the Advertiser that the application would not be called in – infuriating Mrs Gillon.

Developers Scotgen say the gasification plant, earmarked for land a mile south of Stonehouse, will create 50 jobs and generate ‘green’ energy for homes and businesses by processing waste.

About 20,000 people objected to the scheme which was approved by 14 votes to nine at a council planning committee meeting. Tory, Labour and Liberal councillors voted for the plant with the SNP and independent members voting against.

The Scottish Government spokesman said: “Ministers recognise and respect the role of local authorities in making decisions on future development of their areas, and will therefore only call in applications for further determination where there are issues of genuine national interest.

“The Scottish Government examined the issues relevant to this application prior to the council’s decision but was of the view that there were no national issues warranting such an intervention.”

But Mrs Gillon believes that, as the Dovesdale site is in the green belt and the proposal is contrary to the planning guidelines for the area, the scheme should have been automatically referred to the Scottish Government for determination.

She said Holyrood had been quick to ‘call in’ USA tycoon Donald Trump’s £1 billion homes/golf course application after it was turned down by Aberdeenshire Council in 2006.

“Donald Trump, as the applicant, had a right of an appeal against the decision to refuse his application,” added Mrs Gillon.

“However, within four days of that decision it had been called in by Ministers in the national interest and eventually approved by John Swinney.

“The fact is SNP ministers could have called this in.

“A total of 20,000 people lodged objections and there are concerns about emissions and the record of the company who will run the incinerator plant.

“I am not saying we are going to have three-headed babies, but we have to be sure that Scotgen are capable of running a plant such as this, and the technology is capable of producing energy from waste.

“We also have to be sure that emissions coming from the plant are safe.”

She was “not convinced” by Scotgen’s record and would be making that case to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency who will now decide whether to licence the facility.

Scotgen have a similar facility in Dumfries. The company last year admitted the plant had yet to produce electricity. It has breached its operation permit 358 times. Mrs Gillon’s SNP rival, South of Scotland MSP Aileen Campbell, has called on South Lanarkshire Council Leader Eddie McAvoy to put a vote on the Dovesadale application to a meeting of the full council.

She was of the view that the SNP Government had “no locus to intervene” in the processing of the application, and added: “The fact is that the council’s planning committee ignored the voices of 20,000 objectors to the Dovesdale proposal.

“In the interests of local democracy the full council must have their say.”

However, councillor McAvoy said, bluntly: “The answer is no.

“Unless material differences come to light, the council cannot review a decision for six months from the date the decision was made.

“As far as Dovesdale is concerned, no material considerations have come to light.

“Aileen Campbell is playing politics because of the impending election.”