Power , Landfill and the Planning System

Public opposition to landfill sites has been growing in recent years, as a more general ‘environmental morality’ has developed. Meanwhile, official policy has both taken on the concept of sustainability and fostered deregulation of the waste industry. Using examples of planning appeals and public inquiries, this paper investigates the nature of that opposition and how the planning system in Scotland deals with it. One of the key issues which emerges is the difference between public and official perceptions of the place which the planning system should grant to concerns about pollution risks. Another is the ways in which the impact on amenity is defined and assessed in different types of localities, highlighting notions of rurality. From the analysis of public inquiries, it can be seen that although planning appeals are often decided on the basis of ‘subjective’ judgements about amenity, local objectives are increasingly willing to engage in highly technical arguments with developers. They defy the label ‘nimby’ by challenging the waste industry and government policy more fundamentally on issues of risk and technological reliability 1 Formerly Research Fellow, Centre for Rural Economy