Changes to community benefit payments could help trigger much needed infrastructure projects
FUTURE community benefit payments from large renewable energy projects could give local authorities the funding to make ‘transformational’ change to housing and transport infrastructure.
SIC chief executive Maggie Sandison said that, if the council had guaranteed access to a stream of community benefit, the local authority would be in a position to borrow against this and invest in an “enduring legacy” for the isles.
She was referring to potential community benefit income that would come from large future offshore wind projects.
The council is lobbying parliamentarians at Holyrood and Westminster accordingly while a number of policy decisions on the topic have been passed by councillors lately, such as the Fair Share for Shetland document.
Councillors approve principles for community benefit negotiations
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, on a recent visit to Shetland, confirmed that if his party forms the next Scottish government (after May 2026), changes to the way community benefits are being dispersed will be made.
At the moment, the council has no access to the £2.2 million that is being paid annually in community benefit for the Viking wind farm.
The council also has no access to the so far undisclosed rate of profit that Shetland Charitable Trust will receive on its £10 million investment in the wind farm.
Sandison confirmed that, as it stands, none of this money can be used for “transformational infrastructure investment.”
Photo: Hans J Marter/Shetland News
Sarwar said changes to the way community benefit payment could be use were “long overdue”.
He also confirmed that under Labour the amount of community benefit (currently £5,000 per installed megawatt) would be increased, but he did not give a specific figure.
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“If we are successful next year then we would want to look at how we can expand community benefit and community ownership using the powers that we have in the Scottish parliament,” he said.
“If we accept the need to have large scale infrastructure investment right across the country and we have to put our local authorities on to a more sustainable financial footing than they are just now, (…) [then] we have to use the leverage of industry to help maximise those opportunities.
“It goes without saying that for many communities that support local infrastructure don’t yet receive a level of community benefit that matches their needs and their ambition. I share that frustration with them.
“In short, yes, we have to look at improving tangible and meaningful community benefit for the infrastructure that we want to see built.”
Sandison said: “Given the potential scale of future developments, the scale of income from these developments could also be significantly larger which opens up the opportunity for investment in infrastructure on a scale that is transformational.
“If the council had access to an annual income stream of community benefit, our ability to borrow for infrastructure investment – where we have a sustainable income stream over 20+ years – could give us a route to addressing our cost of living and our infrastructure deficit.”
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