Standing up for Protected Areas
Male hen harrier (Andy Hay rspb-images.com)
This week Dumfries and Galloway Council planning committee will make an important planning decision. It will put the spotlight on Scotland’s duties to protect the best places in Europe for wildlife and it will test our decision makers’ commitment to uphold Europe’s extremely popular protected areas legislation.
On the 23rd September, Councillors will gather in the Council offices at Dumfries to decide the fate of an important area of upland habitat, proposed to be developed as the Spango wind farm. Approval of this development would set a dangerous precedent that could have repercussions far beyond the Dumfriesshire hillside where the windfarm is proposed. Unlike any other wind farm proposal in mainland Scotland, the Spango wind farm is proposed inside a Special Protection Area (SPA) – an area identified and given legal protection by the Scottish Government, and declared as one of the best places for wildlife in Europe under the European Birds Directive. This site, the Muirkirk and North Lowther Uplands SPA, is particularly important for hen harrier, a species already under huge pressure from illegal persecution and now almost extinct in England. There are also golden plover and other important species using the SPA. Protected areas like this offer hen harriers a vital refuge, and this SPA was selected following a rigorous assessment by SNH of the best areas in Scotland for harriers.
I started my career at the RSPB just two years before the Birds Directive was agreed in 1979. We fought hard for this ground-breaking legislation, which requires Governments across Europe to identify and protect the most important places in their member state territory for birds. Together with the Habitats Directive (brought in just over a decade later) these laws now play a vital part in conserving wildlife in Scotland and across Europe and protecting it from damaging and inappropriate development. They recognise that we have a wider, international obligation to protect our ‘natural capital’, and they help provide a level playing field across Europe by preventing a ‘race-to-the-bottom’, where member states might seek to gain competitive advantage by destroying the natural environment. Here in Scotland, although we have some serious problems from other pressures such as illegal persecution of birds of prey and grazing management, we have a generally positive record of protecting these sites from development threats. Onshore wind has been a particular success story, with a significant increase in wind power generation being achieved without significant harm to protected wildlife sites. Landmark cases such as the refusal of the Lewis Wind Power project in have set the benchmark for sound development decisions affecting SPAs. The refusal by Scottish Ministers sent a very clear message that damaging these special places is just not acceptable. Unfortunately, the Spango wind farm proposal, along with another current application in Sutherland by SSE at Strathy South, threaten the good reputation Scotland has built up in navigating its way through the site based issues that arise.
RSPB Scotland firmly supports renewable energy but not at any cost. Wind farms must be sited and designed appropriately to avoid unacceptable impacts on wildlife. As for any type of development when they threaten important bird populations or other wildlife we will oppose them vigorously. There are many consented wind farm sites in Scotland which provide good examples of environmentally sensitive renewable development. Unfortunately, Spango wind farm is just simply in the wrong place, and should be consigned to the scrap heap.
For more information on Spango wind farm – see our saving special places page. I for one will be following the decision very closely. Scottish Natural Heritage have also objected which means that if Councillors decide to approve the application, it would need to be notified and potentially ‘called in’ by Scottish Ministers, The planning committee meeting on the 23rd September will be at 10.30am at the Council Offices, English Street, Dumfries. Local RSPB Scotland staff will be attending the meeting and I would encourage any concerned members of the public to do the same.