A detailed analysis of the Energy Consents Unit platform highlights a hard technical ceiling on public submissions, outdated data protection references, and growing concerns over whether Scotland’s consultation process is fit for purpose.
Public Rights
When Prevention Is Replaced by Permission
An analysis of the Mey Battery Energy Storage System decision and what it reveals about risk, prevention and environmental regulation when known impacts are acknowledged but approvals still proceed.
BESS Blogging Democracy Energy Planning Offshore Wind Farms Public Rights Pylons Scottish Government Solar Parks Substations Tourism Wind Farms
Scotland’s Expanding Energy Infrastructure and Its Carbon Impact
Scotland’s energy planning is at a critical crossroads. As onshore wind, offshore wind, solar farms, battery storage sites, pylons and substations expand at pace, serious questions are emerging about whether the current approach is genuinely reducing carbon emissions or quietly increasing them. This article examines how short infrastructure lifespans, repeated construction, peatland damage and grid inefficiencies are undermining Scotland’s climate advantage, while rural communities shoulder the environmental, health and economic impacts. With large scale developments facing growing public opposition, calls for a moratorium on energy planning in Scotland are intensifying until a transparent national energy strategy is published that properly accounts for true carbon costs, protects peatlands, and places public wellbeing at the centre of the energy transition.
Democracy for Aberdeenshire
Democracy for Aberdeenshire is a civic engagement platform focused on transparency and democratic accountability in local government. It enables residents in Aberdeenshire, Moray, and the Highlands to engage directly with their councillors and supports the principle that major infrastructure decisions should be debated by the full council, in public, and with proper scrutiny.
