By Paul Cargill
A windfarm developer has again been accused of handing out “bribes” to hush
up potential critics of its plans in Perthshire.
Banks Renewables, the company behind a bid to build the biggest turbines
the Big County has ever seen on the Bandirran Estate near Balbeggie,
recently gave Burrelton Bowling and Tennis Club £4,500 in cash so it could
pay to resurface its outdoor courts.
Development director Colin Anderson said Banks were “proud” to support the
club and that many more local organisations could benefit from their
“community fund” – should their planning application to construct six 132m
high turbines be approved.
But anti-windfarm campaign group Scotland Against Spin panned the developer
over the payment, claiming the donation had been made to “buy support or
silence objections” to its windfarm proposals.
A community councillor also raised his concerns about Banks promising cash
to local groups before their planning application has been considered by
Perth and Kinross Council, describing it as a “corruption of the planning
process”.
Banks came under fire for a similar reason last year after it emerged they
had written to residents offering them up to £90,000 “not to object to nor
support any objection to any application for planning permission in respect
of the wind farm”.
Scotland Against Spin spokeswoman Linda Holt told the PA the cash donation
to Burrelton Bowling and Tennis Club was not “technically illegal”, but
described such payments as “unethical” and claimed they had the potential
to “split communities”.
“Banks has plenty of form when it comes to giving individuals and groups
money,” she said.
“The reason is always the same: to buy support, or silence objections, for
a wind farm which for very good reasons local people don’t want.
“Sometimes such deals are secret; sometimes they are public, like this one,
because Banks want to exploit them for maximum positive publicity.
“Although technically not illegal, promising people money before a
controversial application is decided is unethical. It splits communities.
“Anyone who might want to oppose the wind farm can be made to feel they are
depriving some worthy local group of much-needed cash.
“Bribes like this make it much harder for people to decide on an
application on purely planning grounds, which is of course what the
developer wants, especially if the planning grounds for a wind farm like
this one are so weak.
“There is one reason and one reason only why Banks has given Burrelton
Tennis Club money: to discourage local people from objecting.”
Burrelton and District community council chairman Martin Payne told the PA
he only found out about Banks offering cash to local groups through village
rumours.
He raised the issue with Banks representatives at a steering group meeting
held before they put in the planning application, where he argued they
should not make any donations until the planning process had concluded.
“I felt what they were doing was fundamentally wrong,” he said.
“Here they were, about to put in an application for a highly contentious
windfarm, and secretly making money available to people directly affected
by it.
“It is wholly unsatisfactory. It is a corruption of the planning process
and it should not be allowed.”
But Mark Dowdall, environment and community director of Banks Group, said:
“The Banks Community Fund provides support to community groups, voluntary
organisations and environmental projects that are charitable, educational,
philanthropic or benevolent in purpose and are located close to a current
or proposed Banks Group development and deliver a benefit to their local
community.
“The fund is completely independent of and separate from the planning
process and applications are fully and properly reviewed by an independent
grants panel set up by the Community Foundation that administers the Banks
Community Fund.
“Our policy is to ensure that we work in partnership with the local
communities that host our developments so that they can also share in the
benefits that our business creates.
“We are extremely proud that, since it was established in 1997, the Banks
Community Fund has granted £2.7 million in grants and benefited more than
80,000 people.
“Irrespective of what decision Perth & Kinross Council makes on that
planning application, we are glad to have made a positive and meaningful
contribution to community life in this area during the two years we have
been working here to develop our plans.
“The Bandirran scheme has won widespread backing for the many benefits it
would deliver to the area, should it be given the go-ahead, which further
demonstrate our commitment to enhancing and benefiting communities where we
operate.
“Local communities would share the revenues generated to invest in local
causes and projects important to them. Funding would also be created for
workplace training and job creation schemes and apprenticeships.
“Local businesses will have the opportunity to benefit from a significant
amount of all construction-related contracts, delivering a real shot in the
arm to the local community.
“Meanwhile the owners of Bandirran Estate say their share of revenues would
secure the future of the estate, with money reinvested to create jobs and
increase sustainability.”
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