‘Give councils guidelines on turbines cash’- Press and Journal

By Clare Carswell

The Scottish Government needs to give local authorities official guidance
on community benefits offered by wind power developers, according to a
report by Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University.

In his survey, Professor Peter Strachan reviewed formal policy guidance to
all 32 councils in Scotland and found that, despite more than 10 years’
experience in dealing with wind power applications, “Scottish local
government lacks robust and nationally co-ordinated frameworks for
strategically managing community benefits provision”.

He concluded this was because of the controversial nature of wind power
applications and resource constraints such as time, staff and budget, with
local authorities also worried about accusations of a corrupt planning system.

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