Fish farm application to be considered afresh by planning committee

An application to site a salmon farm off Wyre will be considered again by Orkney Islands Council’s planning committee.

The application for the Gairsay Sound development was refused by the committee last month.

But scrutiny of the terms for committee’s decision found that the reasoning was based partly on planning policy from the 2004 Local Plan that specifically related to land-based, not marine, fish farm developments. Planning jurisdiction for sea-based fish farms came into effect in 2007.

As the application was for a marine fish farm, legal advice was sought from a specialist planning lawyer, who recommended that the application be referred back to the committee for a fresh determination. This is possible because a planning decision does not come into effect until the applicant is formally notified of the determination.

Roddy Mackay, the OIC’s head of planning and regulatory services, said: “We have not reached the decision to return the application to the planning committee lightly or without careful deliberation.

“Our conclusion is that this is the right and proper thing to do. We recognise that this may bring inconvenience to everyone involved with this matter and we would like to apologise for this. However, we believe that this is the fairest course of action for both the applicant and objectors.”

The application will be considered afresh by the committee on April 30.