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The protection and maintenance of greenbelt land is a key issue for people living in Eaglesham and Waterfoot.
In the past decade, unwanted proposals for a large-scale housing development on land West of Glasgow Road were defeated on two separate occasions and it was a major relief that the plans did not proceed.
Towards the tail end of 2023, controversial plans emerged for the construction of a 40MW battery energy storage facility on land at the East side of Glasgow Road and adjacent to the Belle Craig roundabout.
Following the pre-application consultation phase, the formal planning proposal was submitted to East Renfrewshire Council and it opened for public comment in May.
The controversial nature of the proposal is summed up by the vast number of objections, which have been registered with the council.
On the planning applications section of the council’s website, there are around 250 objection comments by people who are concerned about the development.
At this stage, it is not entirely clear if this will represent the total number of objections or whether any of the public comments may be excluded by the council in the final count.
One of the objections on the council’s website is a letter from me and I am very strongly opposed to the possible introduction of a large-scale battery energy storage facility at Glasgow Road.
In my objection letter, I highlighted that as part of the council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) – one of the key documents for determining the outcome of planning proposals – the land adjacent to the Belle Craig roundabout is zoned as greenbelt.
The designation of the land at Glasgow Road as a greenfield site in the approved LDP must be viewed as a material planning consideration when making an assessment of the application and for me, it is a strong enough reason to merit a rejection of the proposal.
Moreover, the council’s LDP sets out that key criteria for reviewing planning applications include the impact of a proposal on a locality’s character or amenity and assessing the appropriateness of a development in line with whether or not it is consistent with the existing buildings in an area.
As the surrounding parts of Eaglesham and Waterfoot are largely a combination of greenbelt land and housing, it does seem to me that the battery plant proposal would represent an inappropriate new development.
The planning application is classed as a major proposal.
There is currently no clarity on the date of the future meeting or what recommendations will be brought forward by planning officers for councillors to consider when elected members are to reach a verdict on the plans.
It is possible that the planning application could be referred to the Scottish Government Reporter for a final decision as was the case for the previous housing development proposals on the land West of Glasgow Road.
I am clear in my view that the battery energy storage facility would represent the introduction of an unacceptable new development on local greenbelt land and the plans should be rejected.