Why I voted not to object to the biomass application

John Inglis, Chair of Arran Community Council

The Dyemill biomass application is one of the most contentious we have had to face on Arran. The application quickly stimulated an opposition group largely based round Whiting Bay. They may have initially reflected on a different type of biomass plant, mooted some years ago, whose working processes were indeed entirely unacceptable. The objections were many and varied and the emphasis changed as more information was forthcoming. They can be summarised as: unsightly, noisy, polluting, inefficient, no community benefit, increased road traffic and a predicted adverse effect on tourism.

The Community Council, in lengthy discussion both verbally and by e-mail, asked over 80 questions of the Forestry and. the company, NEDL – which gave two public presentations. No previous application has resulted in so much collected information, all of which was provided on the Community Council website.

The proposed biomass site is situated on forestry land on the far slope of the hill (the Heights) on the right if you are going from Lamlash to Whiting Bay. It is surrounded by trees and would remain so. It would not be possible to see it from any Arran home, the nearest of which is several hundred metres away and shielded by a permanent bank of trees. These trees, combined with an erected earth banking, would act as a sound baffle for what is already a controlled noise output. The top of the flue may be visible on Holy Isle but only at the summit and eventually may be hidden as the trees reach their full height. On certain specific weather conditions there would be a plume of largely water vapour, similar to a cloud, as seen on other, smaller biomass plants on Arran. It takes a stretch of the imagination to think that this plant would adversely affect tourism. Far more probable is that, if built, it would soon be ‘out of sight out of mind’.

The question of the plant’s low efficiency of 23% is cited as grounds against the application. This means that 23% of the wood fuel comes out as electricity – but this efficiency rate is not dissimilar to all plants which burn wood or coal to generate power. Of course, if the heat given off were to be used for an additional purpose, this level of efficiency would rise. That is a future possibility since the company would make no charge for the heat.

There is another way of looking at ‘efficiency’. No trees will be cut down to be burned in this plant. All the wood used is the waste from trees cut for other purposes, wood which otherwise has to be shipped off the island at taxpayer’s expense. Selling that waste wood to the plant is an efficient alternative for the Forestry.

Of course the most serious accusation against the plant is that it will pollute the atmosphere. Scientific papers analysing emissions can cause alarm if read out of context. Seen in comparison with other outputs, the plant emissions are not as virulent as the open coal fires, wood burning stoves and car exhausts that are already prevalent in Arran. There are small biomass plants operating in Arran already, with one planned for the hospital by the NHS. The Dyemill biomass application meets the strictest emission requirements but will utilise additional filters not legally insisted upon. The overall accumulative effect is that Arran’s air quality will remain high on the purity scale. Since the plant would be in the middle of forestry land, there would be a significant reduction in heavy loads on public roads since the bulk of scrap timber for biofuel would only be transported on forestry roads. The persistent claims contradicting this are simply wrong.

These are planning issues but there are other factors of concern to the island in terms of possible island benefit. The plant would employ four people, with some subsidiary employment in preparation and processing the wood. It would be desirable to have four local people employed, but if people of working age and possibly with families were to be brought in, that would still benefit the island, which needs younger people and children.

The Community Council have been assured by the Forestry that some of the money from the sale of the biofuel will be used for tourist recreation purposes on forestry land in Arran. The Community Council has made its acceptance of the plant conditional upon some community return by way of a share in ownership of the plant or some part of the revenue for the electricity.

There are wider, national concerns that we on Arran should consider. Biomass is ‘baseload’ electricity. That’s to say, its fuel is always available, unlike wind or some tidal mechanisms. It is independent of other countries and of large oil companies whose supply to us may not always be guaranteed or affordable. The UK government intends to build 20 nuclear power stations. These have no carbon emissions but they may have other disadvantages some of which have already been experienced on Arran – many of us remember the restrictions and anxiety that followed the Chernobyl disaster. Without taking the side of any political party, I support the Scottish Government’s drive for renewables and consider subsidies a price worth paying as a means of developing our own safe power source under our control. These are my reasons for not opposing the Dyemill Biomass application. However, it is well to remember that NAC make the ultimate decision and are under no obligation to take the advice of the Community Council.