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Renewable Energy: Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire

Asked by Mr Angus MacDonaldLiberal DemocratDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled Answered 9 July 2025UIN 64328

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of community benefit packages from new renewable energy infrastructure projects on Inverness, Skye, and West Ross-shire constituency.

Answered by Michael Shanks

At present, the provision of community benefits in Great Britain is voluntary . In Scotland, developers are strongly encouraged to provide community benefits in line with the Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles.

The government is, currently exploring mandating community benefits as we believe that where communities host this low carbon infrastructure they should benefit and the proposals were set out in the working paper the government published on 21 May.

Under voluntary or mandatory schemes, the process should be community led and the fund tailored to local priorities so that the impact can be maximized.

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