MOUNTAINEERS are urging planners to ensure that any rush to get hydro projects off the ground before financial incentives are cut does not result in the Scottish landscape being permanently scarred.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) has written to heads of planning in 10 local authorities and Scotland's two national parks, expressing concern at the significant impact on upland areas due to the extent and pace of development of hydro development. It says they must take enforcement action, if necessary.
Last month the UK Government published its review of its feed-in-tariff (FiT) system, which threatens steeper than expected cuts to incentives and, potentially, an end of the scheme in its current form.
Cuts in support of around one-third to a half are proposed for small-scale hydro power schemes. Now the fear is of a dash to develop, before the cuts are implemented.
In its letter, the MCofS recognises that any civil engineering project in a rural landscape will give rise to possibly significant short-term landscape effects, and accepts that this is a temporary effect of a transition to a lower-carbon economy.
However, the letter highlights the key concern which lies with the long-term effects, and specifically with the restoration of pipeline routes and access tracks.
David Gibson, MCofS chief officer, said: “We support hydro-electric generation, where generation and transmission infrastructure can be installed without unacceptable adverse impacts on landscape and ecology.”
He said hydro infrastructure and vehicle tracks, could be mitigated by high quality restoration.
"That is what most planning applications claim will be achieved. It is up to planning authorities to ensure that developers’ keep their word and achieve optimal reinstatement of pipeline routes and blending in of narrowed vehicle tracks.
“We have therefore called on the planning authorities to confirm that they will act to ensure that developers’ keep their word and achieve optimal reinstatement.
"We believe that planning authorities must act by requiring that developers specify high quality restoration, then by monitoring completed schemes on an ongoing basis to ensure this is achieved, accompanied by a readiness to take enforcement action where it is not.”
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