Scottish leader accused of failing to consult community over power station

Residents have asked judges to block a decision to give a coal power station protected status under planning regulations
Residents next to the site of a major new coal-fired power station have accused the devolved Scottish government in court of breaching its legal duties to consult local people about the proposal.
Alex Salmond supports plans by the Danish power company Dong to build a major coal-fired station in Ayrshire to replace Hunterston nuclear power plant, claiming it would eventually be fitted with "clean coal" carbon-capture technology that will limit its CO2 emissions.
But local residents have asked judges in Edinburgh to block a decision by the Scottish government to give the power station special protected status under planning regulations.
Environmentalists believe Salmond's ambitious climate change strategies, including a 42% emissions cut target for 2020, and his championing of renewable energy, is undermined by his support for coal. He has called for Longannet coal mine in Fife to reopen, and his government has relaxed planning laws on opencast mines.
It emerged last December that the 1.6GW power station, which could open in 2014, had been quietly added to the priority list in the national planning framework (NPF), eight months after the main public consultation on the framework had closed.
That status means a planning inquiry cannot challenge the power station's purpose or legitimacy, just its design, siting and any environmental mitigation. Similar measures have been introduced by the UK government in England and Wales.
The campaigners, supported by the pressure group Planning Democracy and the Environmental Law Centre Scotland, yesterday submitted a petition for judicial review to the civil Court of Session in Edinburgh, accusing ministers of breaking planning law and European environmental law by failing to properly consult them.
The decision to add Hunterston to the NPF list of 14 priority projects was publicised in an obscure official journal, the Edinburgh Gazette, with a six-week consultation period. The main consultation on the 52 projects considered for the framework in 2008 was widely publicised and lasted for three months, supported by workshops.
They claim that the government was legally required to use local newspapers in Ayrshire and ensure that residents were fully notified of the proposal. Maggie Kelly, from the residents campaign group Communities Opposed to New Coal at Hunterston (CONCH), said: "The proposed power station would have a devastating impact on our community, damaging our health, our livelihoods and destroying the local environment. Yet under the National Planning Framework, we have been denied the opportunity to object to this major development."
The Scottish government refused to discuss the judicial review, but said: "The public will be able to have their say on matters such as siting, design and the minimisation and mitigation of potential environmental effects as part of the development management process, including any public inquiry.