For many years, Friends of the Ochils has reviewed the lists of planning applications. We have also commented on wider structure plans and local plans, insofar as our limited capacity has allowed. In 1999 and 2000 we developed ideas about the long-term protection of the Ochils. These came to nought, partly because we lacked the time and resources to market them sufficiently aggressively and professionally, but also partly because much of what needs to happen is in the province of agencies that turn their backs on the Ochils.
They turn their backs in two ways. One is geographical. With the honourable exception of Clackmannanshire, the local authorities, which form the geographical framework for much relevant activity, tend to have their eyes on other parts of their respective territories. National agencies often either follow local authority boundaries or see empty hills as good places through which to draw their boundaries. Then there is the preoccupation with the exceptional and the rare. Rare species, habitats and landscapes are the focus of much activity. Quietly degraded landscapes such as the Ochils do not attract the same attention.
Of course no one is seeking to compare the Ochils landscape with Sutherland; or common birds or vegetation of the Ochils - which perhaps aren't as common as they once were - with the excitement of an osprey or the arctic-alpine plants of Ben Lawers. But the absence of some label that says "special place" might make the Ochils vulnerable to new threats.
A key aim in our earlier work on planning was to achieve a stronger level of statutory landscape protection for the Ochils. At that time, Scottish Natural Heritage had produced a report on National Scenic Areas which proposed a designation of Local Scenic Area which we believed would be very suitable for the Ochils. This proposal has been with the Scottish Executive ever since, with no action taken. It is difficult to press for the Ochils to receive a protective designation which does not yet exist - yet the threats continue to mount.
In 2002 the Scottish Executive approved the Clackmannanshire and Stirling Structure Plan - the planning blueprint for the area - but also modified it. We first picked this up through an advert in a local paper which told of "Alterations (Renewable Energy Developments Policy and Indicative Forestry Strategy) to Clackmannanshire and Stirling Structure Plan." When we followed this up to obtain the "further information on the proposed alterations" which the advert promised, we received the following email:
This is currently being prepared using the expedited procedure and no consultation will be conducted prior to submission to the Alteration to the Scottish Executive, at which point the proposed policy will be advertised in the local press and an opportunity for objections will be provided. Any objections will be considered by the Scottish Executive. Unfortunately, no date for submission has yet been agreed.
So, the Scottish Executive will be the body to consider any local objections to a policy that it has required the local authorities to draw up in pursuit of its own ambitious targets for renewable energy. Strangely, I am not entirely persuaded that its consideration will be even-handed.
That is not the only reason to be concerned. We have yet to find time to fully explore the planning issues, but we understand that planning applications for large windfarms go direct to the Scottish Executive. Where, no doubt, they receive an impartial and objective consideration. (Are there any planners in our membership who can help us get up to speed on these processes?)
And a final concern is a policy statement by Scottish Natural Heritage - Strategic Locational Guidance for Onshore Windfarms in Respect of the Natural Heritage. This took in the whole of Scotland and superimposed a number of constraints:
What's the problem? In the final composite map of "zones of natural heritage sensitivity", much of the Ochils, especially east of Glen Devon, is rated as Zone 1, the lowest sensitivity. Even the western part of the range has sections of Zone 1 while being mainly Zone 2: medium sensitivity. The upper Tweed Valley, the Fife Loch Leven and Drummond Castle gardens are all rated as Zone 3 - the high sensitivity - whereas the southern escarpment of the Ochils and Ben Cleuch are not. In the eastern part of the Ochils, Scott's View and the Wallace Road are Zone 1, the same as the whole of North Lanarkshire.
Local planners drawing up renewable energy policies and developers searching for prospective sites will use this guidance, as intended, to identify potential windfarm sites. Once the policies are set it will be too late to object to individual sites as they come up if they comply with the national and local policy on scale, location, etc. The Ochils are high windy ground near to electricity lines and electricity users (us!). They are vulnerable.