A businessman with plans to build a battery complex near Coupar Angus has been told by the town’s community council they are unsatisfied with answers given about his proposal.
Coronation Power held a consultation last month but residents were angered when only agents attended and were unable to answer most questions.
Managing director Vickram Mirchandani has returned to the Coupar Angus and Bendochy Community Council with a nine-page document outlining answers to technical queries relating to concerns such as noise, appearance and construction of the complex, which would store excess national grid energy via a nearby SSE substation.
These answers have been branded as “a mockery” by community council chairwoman Wendy McCombes.
She said: “Presenting the ‘answers’ like this makes a mockery of the consultation event.
“How can a consultation event take place without sufficient information being presented and the opportunity for follow up questions and discussion? Some of the answers presented are so deficient that they are meaningless.
“It appears that Coronation Power are not meeting the Perth and Kinross Council criteria for the pre-application consultation of a planning application.”
The London firm’s boss had described the complex as being “nothing more than a shipping container in a field” but Ms McCombes disagrees.
She said: “With more than 30 shipping container size sheds, a two-metre fence with six-metre towers and floodlights on the highest area of land in the vicinity, this development will look like an internment camp.
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“Elevation drawings were not available at the consultation events to give an impression of how this might look from all approaches.
“Coronation Power acknowledge the site is on prime agricultural land ‘which is considered highly productive and capable of producing a wide range of crops’.
Coupar Angus residents still in dark after questioning battery plans
“Why should such land be taken out of production when there are thousands of sites around Scotland on marginal or reclaimed industrial land?”
She added: “Once again, local residents are being denied the opportunity to present their continued questions and concerns at a further consultation event that is accessible to all.
“It appears that Coronation Power are not meeting the PKC criteria for the pre-application consultation of a planning application.”
Mr Mirchandani, who previously operated in the wind farm industry, has stood by his decision not to host a second consultation, despite coming under fire for selecting a venue inaccessible to wheelchair users.
He said: “I have bent over backwards to accommodate this community. There definitely won’t be a second consultation.
“I’ve given all the answers and anyone can contact me if they have more questions. The way we see it, there is no requirement for a second consultation.”
Perth and Kinross Council’s planning department is expected to make a decision on the application in the near future.
