Planners praised for 'pragmatic and common sense' approach to flood risk fears at new Dornoch distillery site as councillors give £7m plan the green light
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Highland councillors have unanimously sanctioned an ambitious plan for a £7 million, eco-friendly distillery complex at Dornoch which will include a visitor centre.
Members of the North Planning Applications Committee approved the project when they met in Inverness yesterday.
However, the final approval for the scheme will have to come from Scottish Ministers because of an objection from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) over the location of the development in a flood risk area.
The planning application was lodged by the existing Dornoch Distillery, run by brothers Philip and Simon Thompson.
The new distillery complex is earmarked to go on a 7.5 acre site at Dornoch South previously owned by Aberdeen and Northern Marts (ANM) and purchased for the community by Dornoch Area Community Interest Company (DACIC) in March 2021.
The site is deemed to be vulnerable to flooding from the nearby Dornoch Burn in addition to coastal flooding - the distillery application had to be decided with regard to National Planning Framework Four (NPF4), which was adopted in February this year and which introduced tighter policies for development in flood risk areas.
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Plans include a two-storey new distillery, two warehouses and a low-lying solar farm and wetland system. An existing old gas works building, dating back to the 1880s, will be transformed into a visitor centre with a tasting bar and shop.
Councillors were told that there had been no objections to the plan from members of the public and five representations of support from four businesses and a community group.
Highland Council planners recommended the application be given the go-ahead despite the objections from two statutory consultees - SEPA and Highland Council’s Flood Risk Management (FRM) team.
In light of the objection, Dornoch Distillery amended the layout of the site to locate the warehouse buildings closer to the site’s western boundary in order to avoid the most significant areas of flood risk.
However SEPA and the FRM team retained their objection to the distillery and warehouse buildings, although not to the proposed visitor centre or solar farm.
The FRM team stated: “The proposed development is located in an area at risk of coastal flooding and, although suitable mitigation is available, it goes against the principle of avoidance and so we must maintain our objection to the application.”
SEPA said: “The inclusion of future sea level rise on coastal flood risk, as required under NPF4, means that there is not enough land available outwith the coastal flood risk area for the proposed development.”
But planners responded: “The planning authority recognise the need to take cognisance of the global climate change emergency and the need to ensure avoidance of flood risk areas as a first principle now introduced by NPF4 and the comments of consultees in this respect are understood.
“The application does however, effectively mitigate the risk of flooding to the distillery and warehouse buildings ... .and the proposal has been amended to reflect the flood risk constraints such that the most significant areas of risk are avoided.
“Taking all factors into account, the risk of the buildings flooding with mitigation in place is therefore low. The development simply cannot be entirely located outwith the floodplain within the available land holding.”
Councillors praised planners’ “pragmatism and common sense” over the issue.
Cllr Ruraidh Stewart, Skye, said: “It is good to see this common sense approach. The main thing about this flood risk is how far in the future it is. I think this (the development) is a very good idea and I am content that the mitigation will be sufficient.”
Cllr Angela MacLean, Dingwall and Seaforth, said: “Hopefully Scottish Ministers will come back with a positive response."
And Cllr Matthew Reiss,Thurso and north-west Caithness, said: “Officers have used pragmatism and common sense for what looks to be to be an extremely attractive and well thought out development.”
Cllr Jim McGillivray, East Sutherland and Edderton, made an impassioned plea to fellow councillors to support the project. Although not a member of the committee, he was given permission to speak by chairman Drew Millar, Skye.
Cllr McGillivray said the development was being undertaken by a family who had been doing business in Dornoch for more than 20 years and it had the enthusiastic support of the local community.
“This is a natural next step for an already thriving distillery operation,” he said. “It is another brick in the wall of the redevelopment of the old abattoir site, a very unsightly site. This will also see the long-awaited refurbishment of another eyesore - the original slaughterhouse and previous gasworks.
“A full tranche of private money is lined up if approval is given. The development will bring substantial economic advantage to Dornoch with good employment opportunities and community benefits on offer.
“There are seven full-time jobs in the existing distillery and there will be a further eight to 12 high-quality jobs in the next distillery.”
Cllr McGillivray added that it had not been “plain sailing” to get the development to the planning stage with the "introduction of NPF4 which meant that SEPA had to lodge an objection".
“One can only sigh with frustration that NPF4 could have meant compromising and imperilling this application. It is to the credit of our planning officers that they had the pragmatism and realism to approve this application," he said.
“The matter will have to be referred to Scottish Ministers due to SEPA’s objection and I can only hope they will bring some wisdom into the matter.”
