Biomass Plant

Many people that I talk to around Leith Links are concerned about the proposals from ‘Forth Energy’ to build a biomass power plant at Leith Docks.

This is being proposed on the basis that it would be providing ‘green energy’ but when you scratch the surface of the proposal it is far less ‘green’ than it sounds at first hearing. It doesn’t seem to me to be particularly ‘green’ to be bringing wood from overseas (perhaps from as far as South America) to provide us with energy here. There are also concerns about what pollutants might be produced.

I feel this proposal also cuts across the proposals for the redevelopment of Leith Docks which were consulted on with the local community. As a councillor I was involved in some of this discussion and one of the things my colleagues and I pushed very hard for was for 25% of housing to be affordable, and one third of homes to be family homes, with all the needed accompanying open space for leisure and play facilities. We didn’t want this to be yet another development of faceless one and two bedroomed flats, but to offer a mixture of types of home, and therefore a community of all ages. This biomass proposal puts all this at risk.
I fully support the objections to this proposal made by my Labour colleague Councillor Gordon Munro who has said: ‘It will be a huge blot on the landscape if it goes ahead.” The current consultation has just closed, but there will be further opportunities for local voices to be heard when the formal planning application goes in to the Scottish Government. If you want further information on how to have your say contact either myself or Gordon Munro. There’s also a lot of information on the Greener Leith website .

This is about profit not the planet. If elected as your MP I will support the community in its opposition to this proposal.