Official Report · Chamber
General Question Time
This is the draft Official Report. The final version may differ.
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To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the strategic spatial energy plan and whether it has any plans to set out where new energy infrastructure should be built in Scotland. (S7O-00449)
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We regularly engage, and we have been clear that the plan must reflect Scotland’s full renewable energy potential, including Scotland’s full offshore wind pipeline. The UK Government must act quickly by backing Scotland’s renewable energy industry through delivery of the SSEP as soon as possible in order to provide certainty and to secure jobs, investment and economic growth across the country.
I call, er, Duncan Dunlop.
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Thank you for remembering me, Presiding Officer.
The Scottish Government has the devolved powers to give clearer guidance on planning applications for wind farms. It can set out where they should be built, how many can be built in any given area and what proper community benefits developers must pay. If the Government does not do that, we risk turning more people, such as my constituents in Tweedsmuir and Stow, who are naturally pro-renewable energy, against new projects. Will the minister inform my constituents when the Scottish Government will use its devolved planning powers to issue clear guidance and end the current free-for-all, developer-led approach?
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I thank Duncan Dunlop for raising the issue on behalf of his constituents. The SSEP is now with the UK Government and is a matter for it. More broadly, I am always keen that we engage with communities on such projects and make sure that we take them with us, including on community benefit. I am happy to discuss that with him further.
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When building new energy infrastructure in Scotland is in conflict with reducing energy bills, which is the Scottish Government’s priority: the infrastructure or lower energy bills?
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I am not sure that those things are always mutually exclusive if we get them right. It is about getting the infrastructure right and getting the energy. We have huge potential that is delivering jobs across Scotland, including in the north-east. I know that Liam Kerr is supportive and mindful of that. I share concerns with him about the infrastructure, and I am not sure that giving people £200 off their bills when their bills are skyrocketing, as we saw from the UK Government, is quite the way to do things.
As I said, the two are not mutually exclusive. We need to make sure that new energy delivers for communities across the country, including in the areas that Liam Kerr and I represent.
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