Trust disappointed at Berwick Bank decision

Scottish Ministers confirmed that they have approved plans for the Berwick Bank windfarm in the Firth of Forth. The news that the proposed development was approved came on 31 July.

The Trust, along with RSPB Scotland, the Scottish Seabird Centre, Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Marine Conservation Society, wrote to the First Minister in April asking for the refusal of consent for Berwick Bank offshore windfarm. We also asked for a commitment to deliver seabird and wider marine nature resilience and compensation measures, commensurate with the scale of offshore wind development being progressed around Scotland.

Diarmid continued: ‘As we observed in our submission, the proposed mitigations by the developers fell far short of alleviating the expected impacts in terms of fatalities and disruption. Indeed, the Scottish Government’s own Chief Scientific Advisor for Marine and a review panel drawn from the Scottish Science Advisory Council came to the same conclusion.

‘We look forward to hearing more about the detailed seabird compensation plan that is a condition of the approval, as soon as this is available. If this is not adequate – and it needs to be a major improvement on what is currently proposed – then the development should not proceed.

‘At the National Trust for Scotland we are supportive of the drive towards renewable energy, but not at the expense of the very nature and habitats this effort is supposed to help protect in the face of climate change.’

We’ll be monitoring our populations at St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve closely, and reporting on the impacts.