Issue - meetings

Report by Head of Development and Economic Growth

The Senior Planning Officer spoke to the terms of the report.  The development which is subject to the Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) is of a scale which will be an application to the Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989.  Therefore the submission of this PAN is voluntary and no public events are required under the provisions of the Act.  This may form the basis of subsequent application to Scottish Ministers and Argyll and Bute Council will be a consultee on the application.

The proposal comprises a Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Scheme close to Lochan Airigh approximately 4.4 km to the south of the village of Portsonachan and 9 km north west of Inveraray.  The site is located within the North Argyll Area of Panoramic Quality as defined in the Local Development Plan and would be located around 13 km to the south of the Loch Etive Mountains Wild Land Area and around 9 km to the west of Ben Lui Wild Land area as identified by NatureScot.

The report sets out the information submitted to date as part of the PAN and summarises the policy considerations, against which any future planning application will be considered as well as potential material considerations and key issues based upon the information received to date. 

It was recommended that Members note the content of the report and submissions and provide such feedback as they consider appropriate in respect of the PAN to allow these matters to be considered by the Applicant in finalising any future planning application submission.

Decision

The Committee noted the content of the report and submissions with no further feedback being provided.

(Reference: Report by Head of Development and Economic Growth dated 8 August 2023, submitted)