Find, save and share Public Notices that affect you.
The Public Notice Portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
COUNCILLORS have unanimously refused a Perthshire solar farm development the size of 100 football pitches on prime agricultural land, stressing the importance of food security.
Urging Perth and Kinross councillors to refuse the latest green energy application, local councillor Michelle Frampton told councillors “Almond and Earn has reached its limit” and declared “enough is enough”.
The proposal – submitted by Gray Planning and Development on behalf of NS Solar Kinnon Park – received 316 letters of objection and three letters of support.
On Wednesday, May 13 Perth and Kinross Council’s Planning and Placemaking Committee met to consider the application.
NS Solar Kinnon Park submitted plans to develop a solar farm and battery energy storage system at Kinnon Park Park Farm, 700m southwest of Methven on 81 hectares of land within a 99-hectare site. Presenting the application to councillors at Wednesday’s meeting, PKC’s Major Applications and Enforcement team leader Sean Panton said the development site was equivalent in size to 100 football pitches.
He outlined the three reasons for planners’ recommendation of refusal were:
Ground-mounted 3m high panels were proposed in rows with 232 inverters and 20 transformers positioned around the solar farm, along with a number of substations.
The 316 objectors – including Methven and District Community Council – listed concerns which included: its visual impact; flood risk; excessive height; inappropriate land use; loss of open space; light pollution; loss of trees, sunlight and daylight; noise pollution; over-intensive development; overlooking; road safety and the impact on local biodiversity.
READ MORE: How Scotland’s energy bills subsidise lairds’ wind farm jackpots
National Gas Transmissions – which operates a high-pressure gas pipeline that runs through the site – submitted a holding objection that the development must not proceed without further assessment being undertaken by the Asset Protection Team.
A number of deputations were made to Wednesday’s meeting of the Planning and Placemaking Committee including one from Almond and Earn ward councillor Michelle Frampton who urged councillors not to “destroy” food security.
The SNP councillor said: “In the current climate, it is very easy to let the ‘green’ label of a project act as a shield against scrutiny. But a project is not sustainable if it destroys the very foundations of our local environments and our food security.
“Planning is about balance. It is about the right development in the right location.”
She added: “This application seeks to build on prime agricultural land. This is not ‘marginal’ land, this is the high-quality soil that grows food for our tables. Once you cover prime earth with glass, steel and lithium-ion batteries, you are not just borrowing it for years, you are downgrading it.
“We are living in an era of global instability, where food security is becoming as critical as energy security. We cannot keep sacrificing our best fields for infrastructure that could and should be placed on brownfield sites.”
Cllr Frampton argued there was “a tipping point where a contribution becomes saturation”.
She said: “I understand the need for renewable energy. I agree that we must transition our grid. But Almond and Earn has already stepped up to the plate. Our ward is already home to a significant concentration of solar farms, battery storage sites and wind farms. We have done our bit; we have accepted our share of the national burden.
“But there is a tipping point where a contribution becomes saturation. Our ward is being viewed as an east target for developers.”
Cllr Frampton added: “A line needs to be drawn somewhere. We need to say enough is enough.
“I ask this committee to listen to the community. I ask that you recognise that Almond and Earn Ward has reached its limit.”
The applicant’s planning agent Cameron Greig from Morton Fraser Macroberts expressed concern the council’s approach was “legally flawed”.
He pointed to two policies in Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) which he said “superseded” PKC’s local development plan policies. He pointed to policy five which supports renewable energy development.
However, the policy says development can only be allowed on prime agricultural land if is “essential infrastructure and there is a specific locational need and no other suitable site”.
Greig also pointed to NPF4 policy 11 which states: “Development proposals for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emissions technologies will be supported.”
READ MORE: Popular Scottish bar and restaurant hits out over ‘fried rat’ rumours
Neil Gray from Gray Planning and Development said the recommended refusal by planning officers was a “planning balance judgement” and “elected members could make a different planning balance judgement”.
He argued the development would make a “subtantial contribution towards Net Zero” and would address a “national crisis” and the need to move away from fossil fuels.
Having heard both sides, councillors unanimously voted to refuse the application.
The proposal was moved for refusal by local Conservative Almond and Earn ward councillor David Illingworth.
It was seconded by Conservative Blairgowrie and Glens ward councillor Bob Brawn who argued there were now “sufficient” renewable energy projects – and they could now be “far more selective” about where they are developed – but prime agricultural land was “finite”.
He added: “If you go on as we are, without being selective, there could be loads of renewable energy but we don’t have any land left to grow food. Food security is important.”
This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s Editors’ Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here
© 2001-2026. The National is owned and operated by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, an audited local newspaper network.
Visit newsquest.co.uk to view our policies, terms and legal agreements.
The Echo Building, 18 Albert Road, Bournemouth, England BH1 1BZ. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637
Data returned from the Piano ‘meterActive/meterExpired’ callback event.
As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles.
Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services.
These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community.
It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times.
