Location: Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire

Technology: Biomass, CHP, Energy storage, Onshore wind, Solar PV

CARES Funding: N/A

Background

When the Scottish Government published the Onshore Wind Policy Statement in 2017, it called for more collaboration in the onshore wind sector. In response, NatureScot set up the Hagshaw Energy Cluster working group in September 2019 and produced a development framework for the area.

The working group included NatureScot, Architecture and Design Scotland, East Ayrshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council, 3R Energy, BayWa.re UK Ltd, EnergieKontor UK Ltd, Octopus Renewables, Scottish Power Renewables and Ventient Energy.

LUC, working with BIGGAR Economics, RPS Group and Star Development Group, was commissioned to develop the development framework. They also engaged with landowners, communities, local businesses and other interested parties and stakeholders (local, regional and national).

The development framework acts as a basis for working with developers, landowners, communities and other stakeholders to promote and adopt a coordinated approach to future renewable energy development across the cluster.

This is the first time that:

  • Developers, agencies and planning authorities have collaborated to produce a positive vision for renewable energy development.
  • A development framework has been put in place to support the delivery of net zero at the local scale. The development framework will be incorporated in future versions of the local development plan and regional development plans.
  • Local communities have been given a voice to shape the energy transition in their area in an adopted planning document.

The development framework was adopted by East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire Planning Authorities as a non-statutory planning guidance in 2023.

Project aims and objectives

The project set out to explore the scope for greater collaboration between wind energy developers, agencies, planning authorities and communities. The project started off by exploring the appetite for collaboration between stakeholders and the topics that could be worked on together. It was decided that a development framework, which would guide and shape the evolution of the cluster, was the best mechanism to do this.

Frameworks are normally used for urban regeneration or significant infrastructure projects however this is the first time one has been used to guide renewable energy development.

The development framework sets out an ambitious vision for how a more strategic and collaborative approach to renewable energy development can help achieve net zero in a just and fair way, with the intention to provide a more coordinated and structured approach to the planning, consenting, and delivery of renewable energy projects.

The development framework is underpinned by a range of international, national, regional and local policies. These range from the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals, through National Planning Framework 4, Strategic Development Plans and Local Development Plans.

It will inform, shape and support the delivery work, which represents an ambitious future vision. It will be used alongside the existing and new community action plans and local place plans to help prioritise investment.

The development framework sets out key objectives under six themes and highlights localised opportunities via schematic and indicative maps, designed to illustrate the possible location for future investment and enhancement. It does not contain detailed proposals for individual projects which will be progressed separately and with discussion with relevant landowners, stakeholders, communities and required consents and licenses.

Outcomes and achievements

The development framework has the ambition to deliver 1GW of renewable energy capacity, including a range of technologies, through repowering and the extension of existing schemes. It provides greater certainty for developers, agencies and communities in the planning process, setting out key principles for sustainable development in the cluster.

The development framework has been adopted as planning guidance by South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire Councils, ensuring it will be considered in the determination of planning applications.

Based on input from community councils and other community organisations, the framework includes plans to meet the needs and aspirations of the community. Corresponding with community action plans and local place plans, it will guide community benefit funding of around £3 million per year into projects that can best deliver the communities’ priorities. These include active travel networks, recreation facilities and low carbon infrastructure.

A community-led Douglas Valley advisory group, a landowner group, and a developer group all meet quarterly to progress opportunities laid out in the development framework, providing forums for strategic collaboration that previously did not exist.

The economic development officer: Douglas Valley Initiative, employed by South Lanarkshire Council, facilitates each of the groups and provides support to existing community groups in the delivery of large-scale strategic projects.

The projects that are currently progressing include:

  • Active travel paths.
  • Circular economy engagement with developers.
  • Communities and education bodies led by Zero Waste Scotland.
  • Large-scale inward investment opportunities at commercially consented land near the cluster and numerous community ownership projects.

The development framework also supports:

  • Nature restoration.
  • Helping deliver carbon savings by expanding woodland and restoring peatland.
  • Delivering positive effects for biodiversity.

The Hagshaw Cluster has been successful in helping developers work efficiently together in the process of building and repowering their sites – sharing track and equipment which reduces adverse impacts for communities, as well as sharing knowledge and processes in recycling materials.

The pilot project has paved the way for further development frameworks in other locations and NatureScot is currently supporting these in the Black Law energy cluster in the central belt and on the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll. Other locations are under discussion.

The project was included as a case study in the Scottish Government Onshore Wind Policy Statement in December 2022 and referred to in the Onshore Wind Sector Deal in 2023.  A working group is being established to consider lessons learned.

The project won a Scottish Green Energy Award in November 2023 and was shortlisted for a Landscape Institute Award in the same year.

Lessons learnt

The Hagshaw Energy Cluster believes this is the ‘just transition’ in practice. It gives communities a voice to shape their future, supported by a growing stream of investment from the community benefit funds. This is sustainable development – combining social, economic and environmental priorities into one, integrated framework that delivers for people, nature and place.

Lessons learned:

  • Collaboration takes time and effort, but the benefits outweigh the time invested.
  • Providing a spatial vision for wind energy development, and co-located technologies, can benefit everyone.
  • Early involvement with all stakeholders is key, including developers, landowners, land managers, communities, statutory bodies and other organisations with an interest.
  • Engaging communities can be tricky – engagement fatigue and lack of time or capacity to engage are limiting factors.
  • Communities are keen to engage in and shape development, but they need support and resource to do this.
  • There is value in creating a community body to manage and administer funds to deliver strategic projects, requiring input from developers where appropriate and the local authority.
  • Communities recognise the benefit of using the development framework as a mechanism for collaborative working across the communities, as well as with other stakeholders, in relation to the delivery of strategic projects across a wider landscape than individual settlements.
  • The development framework was created on a complex landscape of existing wind developments and six associated community benefit funding pots. These are administered by six different bodies and microgrant schemes, with potential new pots created with each new development. Ongoing discussions are still taking place relating to how best to manage these multiple pots in relation to spend on strategic projects.
  • Whilst the development framework provides an overall vision for the area, specific projects are still subject to landowner approval, further detailed survey and development, and all other necessary consents. As a local expression of national policies, proposals are unable to override existing policies which may still require addressing at a national and statutory level.
  • Circular economy principles and the opportunities arising from these still require further understanding amongst stakeholders. Principles require embedding to move all interested parties away from linear approaches of ‘take, make dispose’. However, the potential for sustainable developments is significant.

Published November 2024