Committee
Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill Committee, 26 Mar 2003
26 Mar 2003 · S1 · Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill Committee
Item of business
Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill: Consideration Stage
As you said, convener, amendment 17 will implement decisions that the committee has already made. It will impose on the promoter a requirement to have an active management system in operation at all times at which the turbines are working. To operate the turbines without the AMS functioning will be a criminal offence.We have heard evidence from the promoters, local interests and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the requirements for an AMS. We also heard evidence about the communication aspects from an expert witness, who, among other things, gave us useful information about global positioning systems and very high frequency radio communications.Amendment 16, which seeks to lower the minimum clearance, was to be allowed only on condition that the broad details of the AMS were included in the bill. Amendment 17, which I have lodged on behalf of the committee, does just that and requires the promoters to consult the relevant emergency services before implementation.Members will remember that Mr Cubbin of the MCA gave evidence on testing and operational issues. One might expect the coastguard to be named in amendment 17. However, we have not done so because the Scottish Parliament has no competence over that issue. As the witness told us at the meeting in Dumfries, matters concerning the coastguard are reserved to Westminster and any attempt by the Scottish Parliament to confer functions on the coastguard would be fatally flawed.As a result, amendment 17 simply requires the promoters to consult the relevant emergency services, which might include the police, the ambulance service and the fire brigade, in advance of implementation. We expect the promoters to take both the spirit and the letter of the amendment on board and to seek to co-operate with those services both before the wind farm becomes operational and during its operational life.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Mr Tom McCabe):
Lab
Good afternoon and welcome to the consideration stage of the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill. I apologise for being a ...
Section 1—Authority for works obstructing navigation and fishing
The Convener:
Lab
The first group of amendments covers issues regarding turbine height and turbine clearance. Amendment 1 is grouped with amendments 2, 16 and 17.
Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD):
LD
Amendments 1, 2 and 16 were lodged by the promoters to address construction issues that have arisen since the bill was introduced. The amendments are intende...
The Convener:
Lab
As Mike Rumbles suggested, John Home Robertson has agreed to lodge the amendments that the committee wishes to make to the bill as a result of our considerat...
Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab):
Lab
As you said, convener, amendment 17 will implement decisions that the committee has already made. It will impose on the promoter a requirement to have an act...
Amendment 1 agreed to.
Amendment 2 moved—Mr Mike Rumbles—and agreed to.
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 3 is grouped with amendments 4 and 6.
Mr Rumbles:
LD
Amendments 3, 4 and 6 have been proposed by the promoters to allow an increase in the space that is allocated to the electrical substation and to provide an ...
Amendment 3 agreed to.
Amendment 4 moved—Mr Mike Rumbles—and agreed to.
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 5 is grouped with amendments 7 to 11.
Mr Rumbles:
LD
Amendments 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 all deal with cable connections and routes within the wind farm and to the Scottish border.The promoters now propose that, i...
The Convener:
Lab
Do members have any comments?
Mr Home Robertson:
Lab
I am sorry, convener—it is a mistake to listen to debates. If we are being asked to agree to the laying of extra cables, I seek an assurance that fishing int...
The Convener:
Lab
Fishermen are not allowed to fish within the wind farm.
Mr Home Robertson:
Lab
I am talking about the extra main cable to the landfall.
The Convener:
Lab
The cables from the farm to the substation will be buried.
Amendment 5 agreed to.
Amendment 16 moved—Mr Mike Rumbles—and agreed to.
Section 1, as amended, agreed to.
Schedule 1Location of the regulated works
Amendments 6 to 9 moved—Mr Mike Rumbles—and agreed to.
Schedule 1, as amended, agreed to.
Section 2—Power to deviate from specified locations
Amendments 10 and 11 moved—Mr Mike Rumbles—and agreed to.
Section 2, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 3 and 4 agreed to.
Section 5—Exclusion zones for navigation, trawling and anchoring