Biomass casts long shadow over The Courier hustings in Dundee
Controversial plans to build a biomass generator at Dundee docks dominated The Courier's final hustings.
Back, from left — Allan Petrie, Shona Robison and Mohammed Asif. Front — Alison Burns, Joe FitzPatrick, Richard McCready and Colin Stewart.
- By Stefan Morkis
- Published in the Courier : 03.05.11
- Published online : 03.05.11 @ 10.21am
In the week that Scotland goes to the polls in the Scottish Parliament elections, a relatively sedate evening at the Apex Hotel became increasingly ill tempered as candidates clashed over Forth Energy's plans to build the biomass burner and wind turbines.
The hustings, chaired by Courier political reporter David Clegg, saw candidates from Dundee City East and West grilled by voters.
West candidates Alison Burns (Lib Dems), Joe FitzPatrick (SNP), Richard McCready (Labour) and Colin Stewart (Conservatives) attended, as did East candidates Mohammed Asif (Labour), Allan Petrie (Lib Dems) and Shona Robison (SNP).
Dundee City East Conservative candidate Brian Docherty was unable to attend after injuring his back at the weekend.
Tayside Police branch secretary for UNISON George McIrvine kicked off the event by asking candidates if they were concerned that police officers may be taken off the streets to carry out work done by civilian staff — while commanding higher wages for those backroom jobs.
Ms Robison said her party was committed to maintaining the number of officers on the beat while Mr McCready said savings could be found by creating a single Scottish police force, but making it more accountable at local level.
Mr Petrie said his party believed a single Scottish police force would be a waste of money while Mr Stewart said the Tories would not support any budget that failed to maintain officer numbers.
However, it was the contentious issue of plans to build a biomass burner were raised that sparked the debate into life.
Dr Iliyan Stefanov asked if the Dundee City East candidates would oppose the biomass generator and turbines because of the effect of property prices in the constituency, which he said could fall by almost a third.
Ms Robison, the Scottish Government's public health minister, said she would oppose the application unless the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's concerns about air quality were addressed.
Traffic concern
She said, "First and foremost public health has to be a priority.
"But we have to realise that the air quality concerns being raised by SEPA are not about the stack from the biomass — they are about traffic."
She added that she did not know if house prices would be affected by the proposed turbine but admitted a smaller development would be preferable for Dundee — and make it easier to tackle pollution in the dock.
She said, "The SNP has said there is a preference for smaller-scale biomass and Forth Energy has to consider the scale. I think it is going to be very difficult to tackle the air quality concerns with the scale of the biomass as is."
Mr Petrie secured the evening's first round of applause when he lambasted the SNP for postponing a decision on the biomass proposal until after the elections.
He said, "The administration didn't do the right thing by postponing — they copped out."
Mr Petrie added that he was concerned third-world farmers would be encouraged to grow fuel for biomass generators rather than food and called for more investigations to be carried out into the renewables sector.
Mr Asif said, "I want to make it clear: I am against the biomass, but I am not against renewable energy.
"I would put people's health first. (SNP justice secretary) Kenny MacAskill has said biomass is not good enough for Leith so it's not good for Dundee."
His last comment earned an angry rebuke from Ms Robison, who said the Labour group of Fife Council had unanimously approved Forth Energy's plan to build a similar plant in Rosyth.
Continued...
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