An action group has been set up in a bid to fight plans for a biomass plant on a Kinross-shire agricultural site.
The Blairingone Action Group was unveiled this week at a village meeting at which more than 50 people heard details of Lambhill Energy’s bid to build a renewable energy plant on the former Oran Recycling site at Lambhill Farm.
The action group and its members believe the development could threaten the health and safety of the community and are now gearing up for what could be a lengthy fight.
Echoing past events in the community, the group’s formation comes a decade after the Blairingone and Saline Action Group disbanded after succeeding in changing the law on the spreading of waste on Scotland’s fields.
The Lambhill Farm site’s discontent began in the 1980s when the community agreed to the creation of an open cast mine on what was farm land at Blairingone. It was to have operated for eight years on the condition that the land would go back to agricultural use.
Blairingone was also to see a community woodland created and funds for a bypass provided, but most of the promises were left unfulfilled after British Coal was privatised.
During the eight years prior to 1997, the villagers found their lives blighted by noise and dust from the mine.SewageWhen the land was sold on, the Stirling contractor Snowie began spreading sewage sludge, chicken blood and guts and industrial wastes, such as tannery effluent, on to fields in the name of “soil regeneration.”
Residents suffered unexplained illnesses, and while the Blairingone and Saline Action Group did not claim a direct link between the practice and the illnesses, they took action.
Eventually, they took their case to the Scottish Government, and after a high-profile campaign for which the community was lauded succeeded in changing the laws regarding the use of waste on agricultural land.
No sewage has been spread on the fields since 1998 and the site lies redundant following the cessation of the composting businesses run by Oran Recycling.
The new plans for the site have not been welcomed, though Lambhill has taken steps to liaise with the community before it presents them to Perth and Kinross Council.
Community leaders last month said they had no wish to reform the action group, but admitted they would consider it if it would help stop the development.
Duncan Hope, former convener of the Blairingone and Saline Action Group, said, “We did not fight for years and take our campaign to the Scottish Parliament, changing the law in the process and stopping the spreading of raw sewage and other noxious waste on farmland in Scotland only to have an incinerator dumped on our doorsteps.”MobilisingMatters now appear to have moved on, and the community is once again mobilising to combat what some believe is a threat to its health and safety.
The Blairingone action group believes it is vitally important that the planning application be designated as a “major” development and that a proper public consultation exercise is carried out.
The proposal is classed as a “local” development designed to prevent unnecessary financial burdens being placed on small business or domestic applications. That enables the application to be brought forward without the applicant carrying out environmental, noise, air, traffic and wildlife impact assessments.
The action group could also contest the applicant’s assertion that their proposals are for an agricultural development.
Opponents believe the plant will clearly represent “industrial” use.
The applicants have pledged a clean development and maintain the plant will not be a waste incineration facility.
The development envisaged comprises a renewable energy combined heat and power plant, generating electricity and heat using virgin wood chips and a facility to make wood shavings for animal bedding.
The plant could create 12-18 jobs, and could also support a community fund, though proposals for this have not yet been detailed.
Next up for the community is the developer’s question-and-answer session, which takes place in the school on Tuesday at 7pm.