£70m wind farm funding boost for Cumnock & Doon Valley communities
A massive £70M community benefit funding agreement has been signed by The 9CC Group for Cumnock & Doon Valley.
The deal with Brockwell Energy is the largest, and latest, multi-million wind farm commitment secured by the charitable organisation on behalf of all nine communities in East Ayrshire.
Funding will come from the 49 turbine North Kyle development and follows previous 9CCG deals with both the Pencloe and Benbrack developments, taking the total to approximately £95m over the lifetime of the sites.
North Kyle, located 5.5km east of Patna, and 2.5km south of Skares, will deliver almost £67 million in community benefit over and above the additional £3.3m of Boost Funding that the 9CC Group began receiving via annual payments, as soon as construction started in 2023.
9CCG chief operating officer Stephen McCarron said: “This is a fantastic commitment to the former coal mining communities and a huge endorsement of our partnership approach to ensure funding is distributed fairly and equitably.
“It comes at a significant time ensuring that unity of purpose and vision are strengthened.
“Brockwell Energy, together with Invenergy, Onpath, REG, Red Rock, Tag Energy and Nadarahave all listened to communities and respected their democratic decisions to work in partnership for the greater good of Cumnock & Doon Valley.
“The funding commitment provides the platform and confidence to invest strategically for the long-term benefit of all our communities, providing jobs, opportunities and a better place to live, work and visit.”
The nine communities benefiting are Auchinleck; Patna; Ochiltree & Skares; New Cumnock; Netherthird; Croberry Logan & Lugar; Drongan, Rankinston & Stair; Dalmellington; and Cumnock.
Elaine Stewart, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock praised Brockwell Energy for their collaborative approach. She said: “This is a welcome and positive demonstration of the importance of ensuring local communities are collectively at the heart of decisions on community benefit funding.
“As the Vice Chair of the Coalfields Community Group of MPs, representing Scottish MPS in Parliament, I am delighted more and more developers have recognised the painful lessons of our past where the inequitable distribution of the £9.2m for former open cast coal mining communities sowed the seeds of division and failed to deliver a lasting legacy.
“Brockwell, Invenergy and Red Rock’s collaborative approach is hugely positive and their support for the 9CCG’s best practice funding model which delivers transparency and coordination to deliver an equitable allocation to all communities is hugely welcome.”
“We have to achieve our clean energy and climate goals, but critically we need to do this by supporting local democracy and taking the wishes of our communities into account.”
The first turbines have been installed in North Kyle, one of the UK’s largest onshore wind farms, as part of the regeneration of one of Scotland’s biggest surface coal mining sites. The new agreement will see an annual indexed linked community benefit payment from 31 March 2027, set to deliver £67m over the estimated 40-year working lifespan.
Brockwell’s North Kyle development was the first scheme to deliver material community benefit in advance of the site being operational with the 5 years investment of ‘Boost funding’ being provided at the start of construction to provide more than £3m to the 9CCG.
Brockwell’s other proposed development, Breezy Hill, is the first scheme that has offered to make available the first 10 years of community benefit at the very start of construction to provide a £3m+ capital lump sum to fund the development of activity centres and visitor facilities across the North Kyle forest.
Iain Cockburn, director of Brockwell Energy, said: “With good coordination, the North Kyle monies when combined with the benefits arising from other schemes, there is a real opportunity to deliver sustainable legacy benefits for the wider communities.
“Whilst some developers have decided, internally within their company, how funds are spent or allocated to communities, Brockwell believes it is important that the North Kyle project helps achieve an allocation in line with the existing matrix agreed by all the communities. This allocation will ensure fairness by preventing the allocation of overall funds being distorted by schemes who have chosen to agree allocations with specific communities at the expense of others.
“Brockwell Energy remains cognisant of the challenges of allocating funds and finding good projects to support. Brockwell welcomes the commitment by the 9CCG to regularly revisit the matrix to ensure that funds continue to be allocated fairly and used efficiently to address local needs and strategic priorities.”
Alex Baird, chair of the 9CC Group, said: “This is another huge step forward for our communities and comes on the back of our collaborative engagement with multiple wind farm developers, including Invenergy and Red Rock. They trust us to reflect the collective wishes of our communities and administer, manage and fund community benefit wisely and strategically.”
The 9CCG manages and administers community benefit funding in a locally democratic, fair and equitable way and by working collaboratively for the whole area. It empowers communities to make their own decisions based on local needs and supports them to deliver benefits and improvements by working collaboratively towards a shared strategic vision.
Each of the 49 turbines at North Kyle has a maximum tip height of 149.9m and when fully operational collectively they will generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of 168,000 homes each year.
Brockwell Energy’s senior project manager Richard Buckland said: “We are not only building a wind farm but helping re-generate a challenging old opencast coal site.
“The project has been a huge success in environmental terms. Huge areas of land that had no topsoil have been re-profiled and spread with excess peat to allow broadleaf planting which will significantly improve ecology diversity. We were already seeing wildlife coming back to the site and the return and successful breeding of our seasonally resident osprey sets an optimistic note for the future.
“Over and above community benefit, the restoration benefits delivered during the construction have already far exceeded £2.6m as we have generated more peat than expected and more work than planned on the road improvements. In addition, to the £3.3m of Boost Funding, the project has provided another £2.6m to East Ayrshire Council to continue the restoration and a further £0.6m to undertake broadleaf planting.
“We are proud of the improvements made to the site which paves the way for the Breezy Hill project to provide the funding package required to deliver the necessary visitor infrastructure to enable and enhance visitor access and amenity.”
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