JOHN Swinney has been warned that SNP ministers may be “discouraging investment in Scotland” by leaving a multi-million-pound planning application in limbo for more than a year.
Although the First Minister accepted the “importance of early decision making”, he defended his Government’s failure to approve or reject plans for a new fish farm in the waters of Loch Long, saying they needed "adequate space ... to consider all of the issues".
The initial planning application was rejected by Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park board in 2022, but was then “called in” by SNP ministers to take the final decision.
A report has been on their desks without a decision since February 2024.
The case centres on an application from Loch Long Salmon (LLS) to construct a £40 million semi-closed fish farm, in what would be a first for Scotland. The technology uses sea pens and nets to limit contact between farmed fish and the open ocean in a bid to control waste, disease, and escapes – but opponents say it is largely untested and the benefits are exaggerated.
The case was raised with Swinney at FMQs on Wednesday by both Green MSP Ariane Burgess and LibDem Beatrice Wishart.
Burgess said: “The industrial salmon farm development proposed for Loch Long will scar the loch's coastline and harm its wildlife.
“It has been opposed by the community, the local planning authority, and even the industry. But we have now been waiting over a year for the Government's response after the application was called in.
Swinney said the Scottish Government was “giving full and proper consideration to this appeal, and every effort has been made to issue a decision as soon as possible”.
He added: “I cannot go into details on the handling of a live planning appeal.
“What I will say is that all relevant information will be considered by ministers in coming to a determination on this issue, and that determination will be arrived at as soon as it's practically possible to do so.”
Wishart then pushed the SNP leader on the issue, saying: “It's been more than a year since the Loch Long Salmon semi-closed containment project was called in for a decision by the Scottish Government.
“This length of wait for a decision from ministers could discourage investment in Scotland.
“It's now over a month since I last raised this in the chamber with no update since.
“Does the First Minister acknowledge that long waits for planning decisions are bad for business?”
Swinney responded: “I certainly want to make sure that we take decisions as efficiently and as swiftly as we possibly can do.
“But I also have to make sure that the government has adequate space and opportunity to consider all of the issues that are involved, and I'm quite sure Beatrice Wishart would understand the significance of that point.
Last month, Mark Shotter, Loch Long Salmon’s project director, issued a similar warning to the Government in an interview with The National.
He said: “Look, I am Scottish, it's a Scottish company, we hope that other companies will invest in Scotland and continue to do so for the benefit of the communities and for Scotland in general – but it simply cannot be a good advertisement, the delay that the Scottish Government has imposed on our project, in the eyes of other potential investors.”
Shotter added that the delay “seems at complete odds with the Government's push for investment and growth”, and said that the plan getting the green light could open up another £110m in investment into Scotland’s west coast.
