The developer behind plans for a biomass plant on a Kinross-shire agricultural site has urged the community to judge the proposal on its own merits.
Lambhill Energy (LHE) Ltd aims to build a renewable energy combined heat and power plant and associated wood-chip and shavings production facility on the former Oran Recycling site at Lambhill Farm, Blairingone.
An action group has been set up to fight the plans, believing the development could threaten health and safety.
However, the developer fears local opinion is being coloured by the location’s past, and hopes to convince residents to consider their plans in isolation.
Lambhill was once the site of an open-cast mine that affected villagers’ lives with noise and dust over an eight-year period to 1997.
When the land was sold on, Stirling contractor Snowie began spreading waste on to the fields in the name of soil regeneration, much to the consternation of residents many of whom began complaining of illnesses.
Although campaigners did not claim a direct link, they secured a change in the laws regarding the use of waste on agricultural land, with the Scottish Executive in 2003 saying the community “had undoubtedly suffered enough.”
Eight years on, Lambhill Energy Ltd seeks to redevelop the site and has been in regular consultation with the community through Fossoway and District Community Council and public meetings.Planning meritsAdrian Talpade of LHE Ltd told community council members, “This current proposal has to be judged on its planning merits and not in the context of the hardship that has been faced by the community in the past.
“We would not presume to comprehend the impact on the community arising out of what was a totally unsatisfactory series of events.
“However, we are in no way connected to the parties which caused the problems, and neither should our proposed process be viewed in the same category.
“We all have a responsibility to represent the proposal in its true form, and some of the inappropriate comparisons that have been made to date are more likely to create needless concern.
“Having said that, we appreciate that you need to satisfy yourselves that the community’s interests are best served, and hopefully we have so far been as open and responsive as possible.”
Mr Talpade said he did not believe that the processes Lambhill proposes to undertake on site will lead to the type of nuisances feared by residents, given the “technology, methods and management procedures” that it will adopt.
The envisaged development comprises a renewable energy combined heat-and-power plant generating electricity and heat using virgin, small round wood chips as the fuel feedstock, together with a facility to produce wood shavings for the animal bedding market.
It would not have the capacity to process waste, and the necessary consent to incinerate waste is not sought.
The CHP plant would use a “pyrolysis process,” producing syngas which then fuels an engine to generate power and heat as a by-product.