More concerns have been raised over plans for an eco-therapy wellness park to be built on the site of the former Barony colliery near Auchinleck, with one resident adamant it would constitute “an environmental disaster”.
Last month, the planning application for the park was submitted to East Ayrshire Council. Should it be consented, the non-exclusive health and wellness destination will provide active health and mental relaxation facilities.
But the Scottish Wildlife Trust and some residents say a development of this scale in woodland “will inevitably cause huge destruction” and have questioned both the council and developers’ proceedings regarding the application thus far.
Paul Cobb said: “An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required for sites of more than 0.5 hectares, and this site is 48.79 hectares, 97 and a half times greater than the threshold.
“Yet a single planning officer, apparently without reference to anyone else, decided that an EIA was not needed because the development will not have significant effects on the environment. This is based on information provided by the developer, not independently assessed.
“It is clearly absurd to suggest a development of more than 300 buildings in wildlife-rich woodland would not have significant effects.” The Planning Committee should insist on an EIA before they even consider the application. “
Andy Whitlock, technical director of National Pride, said: “National Pride and the delivery team of highly experienced professionals have followed the statutory process to the letter, as have the council.
“The screening opinion process is governed by the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 2017, specifically under regulation 11, and the Local Planning Authority (LPA) has assessed the proposal, via the screening opinion process, and decided an EIA was not required. The decision was not made by a ’single planning officer’ but was made under delegated powers to the chief executive by experienced officers and who are accountable to the planning committee.
“We are very approachable to discuss our plans and to listen to community members and groups who also want to see nature flourish.”
David Mitchell, head of governance at East Ayrshire Council, said: “The site area of the proposed development (i.e. more than 0.5 hectares) means that it falls within Schedule 2 development under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.
“This meant it had to be screened, a process which determines if the development requires to be subject to environmental impact assessment (EIA).
“We, the planning authority, duly screened the development using the selection criteria set out in the EIA regulations to determine if the development is likely to have significant effects on the environment and thus require EIA...
“The council’s adopted screening opinion was that the proposed development would not require EIA.”
He added: “This does not mean that the planning authority is of the view that there won’t be any impacts as a result of the development, however, it was not considered that these impacts would be likely to be ‘significant’ in accordance with the meaning in the EIA regulations.”
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