A BATTLE is looming over plans to turn protected sandflats into an industrial zone.
Two-thirds of the Portencross Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in North Ayrshire would be concreted over, despite it being home to a wide range of birds, including curlew, dunlin, redshank and eider duck.
North Ayrshire Council believes developing the area for power stations, a container port and renewable energy-related manufacturing could provide much-needed jobs.
But RSPB Scotland argues that the SSSI – a legal status granted to provide protection against development – must be saved and has called on the council to scrap its plans.
The proposals for industrial use are outlined in the council’s Local Development Plan (LDP). Councillors are to meet tomorrow to finalise the document, which sets out priorities for development of the area.
Portencross Coast SSSI covers 480 hectares between Portencross and Fairlie – equivalent to about 580 football pitches. Of this, 323 hectares are earmarked for industrial development in the LDP.
Aedan Smith, head of planning and development at RSPB Scotland, said: “This is a nationally important wildlife site, valuable for a range of bird species, and an SSSI.
“If the council decides to go down this unfortunate route and build on the site, it must ensure that a habitat of at least equivalent value for wildlife is provided nearby to compensate for any loss.”
The SSSI contains about three miles of sandflats at Hunterston Sands, Southannan Sands and Fairlie Sands. It was officially designated in 1971 under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and described as having “the best mudflats for wildfowl and waders in the Clyde”.
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