Keltney Burn, Kenmore

A proposed hydro scheme is at the scoping study stage, and the SCA has made a response to it (Word document).

The SCA believe that the extraction of water to supply the hydro-electric scheme proposed by Keltney Burn Hydro Ltd could have a considerable negative impact on the opportunity for recreation on the Keltney Burn.

The Burn is only navigable during in spate. This is currently for 19% of the time or a an equivalent of 69 days. The scheme would reduce this to 12% or 43.8 days, a considerable reduction in the opportunity for canoeing. Additionally as the residual catchment will be more ‘flashy’ once the scheme is operational making it harder for canoeists to anticipate when the river will reach a runnable level.

Keltney Burn Hydro Ltd do not acknowledge within the scoping study that the river is used for canoeing nor do they make any attempt to quantify the effects of the proposed development on that activity or recognise the likely negative impact on the river as a recreational resource. The SCA considers that the likely effect of the proposed scheme on canoeing activity should be considered in detail in the Environmental Statement.

The SCA have suggested Keltney Burn Hydro Ltd develop plans incorporating several key measures that would go someway to mitigating the negative effects of the proposed scheme on canoeing activity.

• That Keltney Burn Hydro Ltd take steps to quantify the water level which is required for navigation by canoes and assess in real terms the potential impact of the scheme on the opportunity for canoeing.
• That a gauge is installed which could provide canoeists with access to real time information on water levels in the river. This would increase the chance of paddlers being able to make use of the opportunities when the river will have sufficient water to be navigable.
• That consideration is given to a flow regime that incorporates compensation flows for canoeing at times when water levels would allow the river to be navigable. This could be an automatic or on request service whereby the hydro-electric station would cease generation and allow water to return to the river to facilitate navigation at certain critical water levels. Such an arrangement would require to be fine tuned over time to take into account the actual impact of the scheme on the flows in the river and the need for a reasonable supply of water for the purpose of navigation. We would therefore suggest that the abstraction licence for the scheme is held open to allow a reasonable flow regime to be agreed.
• As the river is used for white water canoeing we would ask that all weirs and hydraulic structures are designed to allow safe passage of canoeists.

Source SCA Office
Last updated 19/1/04