Region treated as ‘energy sacrifice zone’

STOP treating Dumfries and Galloway as “energy sacrifice zones” - an MSP said this week.

Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson has called on the

Scottish Government to reform the planning system to give local voices real power.

He also wants to see a redirection of funding to genuine community-led projects instead of developer-driven schemes that gain only “tokenistic benefit funds.”

Mr Carson was speaking in a debate on expanding community-owned energy in Scotland - and while he supports the principle, it must be matched by practice.

He told MSPs: “In Dumfries and Galloway that is simply not happening. The Scottish Conservative amendment rightly states that community consent needs to be at the heart of energy production.

“Yet in my region, I don’t believe that principle has ever been taken seriously and it is still being routinely ignored.

“Since May 2022 30 wind farms, pylons and battery storage have been approved in Dumfries and Galloway by the Energy Consents Unit – many turbines over 150 metres, some exceeding 200 metres.

“These are not small-scale community-led projects. They are industrial-scale developments, often driven by external developers with little local accountability.”

The constituency MSP has previously called for a moratorium on new windfarm consents, pointing to data from NatureScot that shows southern Scotland has more proposed onshore wind developments than any other part of the country.

He added: “According to the Scottish Government’s own figures, South West Scotland hosts 21 per cent of all onshore wind developments than any other part of the country.

“In March, the Energy Minister insisted his focus was on renewables – without offering any clarity on how much is too much for rural Scotland.

“We already have overcapacity in Galloway. There is no clear plan for when or where this will stop.”