Long standing concerns over raw sewage being discharged into Loch Leven have failed to persuade the Scottish Government to order a developer to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a proposed 160-home development in Kinross.
Perth and Kinross Council directed Miller Homes to provide an EIA concerning its designs to build the scheme on land north of the town’s Davies Park last year citing “potential capacity issues” at local wastewater treatment works.
The move came after reports from residents of untreated waste being discharged into the loch when existing sewerage systems that accept waste as well as surface runoff water are overloaded, particularly during heavy rainfall.
The developer appealed to the Scottish Government to cancel the direction, however, arguing its drainage proposals for the planned 160-home development “will be carefully designed to ensure there is no impact on ... Loch Leven”.
Now the government department tasked to settle the dispute has sided with Miller Homes saying significant impacts on Loch Leven “will be avoided” so long as the development is properly connected to the town’s existing wastewater treatment works.
The ruling comes despite the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) admitting in correspondence last year there is a risk raw sewage coming from Kinross will continue to be discharged into Loch Leven during periods of heavy downpours “until the entire historic sewer network is replaced”.
Kinross-shire councillor Willie Robertson, who recently wrote to Scotland’s environment minister with concerns about the amount of waste already being discharged into loch, said he was “disappointed” and “frustrated” by the ruling.
A spokesperson for the Kinross-shire Civic Trust (KCT), who wrote to the government last year urging it to side with PKC on the EIA direction, said the group were similarly disappointed by the decision.
The government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) said in its decision notice: “In view of the nature, scale and location of the proposed development and the characteristics of its potential environmental impacts, Scottish Ministers consider that the proposed development is unlikely to have significant effects on the environment.
“The proposed development is therefore not considered to be EIA development.
“Ministers have taken into account the fact that the proposed development is not located within a sensitive area, and have taken into account mitigation which is proposed.
“Significant impacts on Loch Leven will be avoided through the implementation of straightforward mitigation, including the connection of the proposed development to the public wastewater treatment works and implementation of a sustainable drainage system and construction environmental management plan.”
Councillor Robertson remarked: “I am very disappointed that once again the DPEA has failed to take a precautionary approach when it comes to large housing developments in the Loch Leven catchment.
“I think that it is now accepted that the decline in the quality of water in the loch can be linked directly to the large increase in housing numbers within the catchment.
“Each development, often approved by the DPEA at appeal, incrementally adds to the phosphorous loading of Loch Leven.
“Added to that the sewage treatment plants serving Kinross and Milnathort have been shown not to be able to cope with the volumes of combined sewage and flood water in periods of heavy rain forcing Scottish Water to divert untreated sewage directly into the loch.
“This situation is totally unacceptable.
“I am pleased that PKC planners recognise these issues by asking for an EIA on the possible added impact of the Miller Homes proposals but I am frustrated and upset at the attitude to the environmental protection of Loch Leven shown by the DPEA.”
A KCT spokesperson added: “We are disappointed that the Scottish Government has overturned the opinion of PKC about the need for an EIA for this proposed 160-dwelling development.
“The Scottish Ministers seem to have wilfully ignored the simple logic that more houses mean more phosphates in Loch Leven which is detrimental to the water quality. We also have the problem of raw sewage discharge in times of heavy rain.
“The decision checklist said that Scottish Water must ensure that the discharge from the proposed development would ‘not cause combined sewage overflows to overflow more regularly’.
“We know that surface water from any new development has to drain away separately and sustainably, but the foul waste will still be going through the combined sewage system at the treatment works.
“We’d like to know how Scottish Water will ensure there will not be more overflows, as according to reports from our local councillors of a meeting held in December, Scottish Water do not keep records of storm sewage overflows at the moment.
“As Loch Leven is a Special Protection Area, we feel a precautionary approach should have been taken and the developer made to carry out an EIA.”
