A children’s environmental group based in Broadford on Skye has found that at least 10 species of mammals and birds will be affected by plans to build a workers’ camp on the outskirts of the village.
Team Otter Broadford is run by the International Otter Survival Fund and its latest surveys have indicated that the habitats of roe deer, red deer, grey heron, red fox, woodcock, pine marten and Eurasian otter all stand to be adversely affected by the Sodexo development, which is meant to house up to 350 temporary electricity grid workers.
A video posted on the group’s Facebook page highlights the species threatened, with barn owls, white tailed sea eagles and golden eagles “also brought to the attention of the group” by members of the public.
A TOB statement added: “This is of concern to them, as well as losing one of their only precious outdoor spaces, in Clay Pools.
“This development has been proposed as ‘temporary’ and therefore has not deemed itself relevant to have a full Environmental Impact Assessment.
“And by ‘temporary’ they mean at least five years.
“It is also worth noting that these species were found in the winter, so migratory and hibernating species cannot be accounted for.
“Furthermore, given the development is on flood plain land, there is also concern for runoff into the bay area including the returning large cetaceans.
“Given a handful of passionate children have already found a number of species, over a small period of time, some of which are highly protected, we have to question what a full EIA would uncover and what further species would be affected.”
Questions were also being asked this week about the sudden change in sewage disposal plans that appear to have been included at the last minute in the design of the workers camp near Broadford.
With Highland Council mulling an application by developers Sodexo for a “temporary accommodation base” for up to 350 workers, local opponent Martyn Ayre, who lives near the planned development, has claimed that plans for on-site septic tanks, which should have been published in mid-December, have been changed.
He said: “The long overdue Drainage Impact Assessment that should have been available for public scrutiny in mid-December was eventually published by the council on Friday 31st January.
“The official deadline for public comments was 5pm on Monday 3rd February.”
Though there was barely enough time for objectors to register their complaints with the council, Mr Ayre said the plans are now for waste water and “trade effluent” from the camp to be pumped into the “already-stretched public local sewage network at a manhole amongst our houses on the Torrin Road.”
He commented: “You couldn’t make this nonsense up – they’re making it up as they go along.
“When the landowner Ross Lambie was trying to get planning permission for his three houses just up the road between our houses and the regenerating woodland enclosure, he was told they could not be connected to the public sewage network and that septic tanks would be necessary.”
The new plan still has to be approved by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Water, who are statutory consultees in the planning process.
One objector who was able to submit an objection by Monday 3rd February was Jennifer Painting from Lower Breakish, who asked: “What penalty has been applied to Sodexo and Ryden [their consultants] for the six-week late submission of these documents, right at the end of the public consultation period?
“Previous documents that were published in mid-December 2024 suggest the plan is/was to install a massive septic tank sewage system for 350 people.
“This latest information suggests a plan to seek to connect the sewage system to serve 350 people to the local public sewage network.
“The two new documents appear incomplete and rushed, without the suitable modelling or consideration.
“If the local sewage network can’t take on another three individual houses, it is impossible for it to cope with the sewage requirements of 350 people plus trade effluent from a large commercial kitchen and a large commercial laundry.
“Because this is an entirely fresh plan, I request that SEPA and Scottish Water must review their present submissions in light of the radically new information in the late-arriving drainage impact assessment.”
As part of the Scottish and Southern Energy plan to upgrade the Fort Augustus to north Skye power line, the workers camp is needed by contractor General Electric to build the infrastructure, which includes electricity substations near Broadford and Edinbane.
Article by Michael Russell