UK funding a factor in China planning row, SNP minister confirms – Herald

Tom Gordon Scottish Political Editor

SNP ministers took over a controversial planning application partly to help
enrich the Chinese-state backers who met Nicola Sturgeon last week, it has
emerged.

Planning Minister Kevin Stewart said his “call-in” of a grid connection for
the Inch Cape offshore wind farm gave it a better chance of securing UK
government funding next year.

More than £500m is being made available to renewables firms under the
so-called “contracts for difference” scheme as part of a nationwide drive
for clean growth.

The call-in means SNP ministers will now have the final say over whether to
approve the project rather than East Lothian Council.

The windfarm and a proposed substation at the former Cockenzie power plant
are being driven by a subsidiary of China’s State Development & Investment
Corporation (SDIC).

Mr Stewart began the call-in process on April 4, but it was formally
executed on April 9, the day before the First Minister meet SDIC in Beijing
on a week-long visit to China.

The timing prompted opposition claims the Scottish Government was kowtowing
to the Chinese authorities and ministers were riding roughshod over local
democracy.

There was also anger the substation could wreck an alternative
council-backed plan for the redevelopment of the Cockenzie site, and cost
the local economy jobs.

Answering an urgent question from East Lothian Labour MSP Iain Gray, Mr
Stewart said: “Consideration of planning cases is focused on the merits of
the case. The identity of the applicant is not a planning consideration
that is relevant to the assessment of any application.”

However Mr Stewart suggested the wind farm’s finances had been a factor in
the call-in.

He said: “There is a deadline in quarter 1 of 2019 for a bid for United
Kingdom funding for the Inch Cape development through the contracts for
difference process.

“To be eligible, all permissions and consents must be in place. Calling in
the planning application gives a greater chance of a timely decision ahead
of the funding deadline.

“The [planning] reporter will consider local views including the local
development plan, and the calling in of the application does not
predetermine the outcome of the planning process.”

Mr Gray pointed out that in 2014 a substation application for the windfarm
on a nearby site was left to the council to decide – but that was when it
was under Spanish owners.

He said: “In 2016 this project was bought by Red Rock Power, a company that
is owned by the Chinese State Development and Investment Corporation, which
the First Minister was meeting last week at the very moment when the
planning decision was called in.

“Can the minister understand that it looks to my constituents as if he is
prepared to ride roughshod over their interests and aspirations, to protect
the interests and aspirations of a Chinese-backed project that will create
not one job in East Lothian?

“If he wants to convince my constituents otherwise, will he do that now, by
returning this decision to East Lothian Council, where it belongs?”

Mr Stewart insisted there was there was “no connection whatsoever” between
the call-in and Ms Sturgeon’s China visit.