Appeal under section 239 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 by Acorn Bioenergy Limited against The Scottish Ministers
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Judge | Lord President, Lord Clark, Lord Ericht |
| Judgment Date | 14 August 2026 |
| Neutral Citation | [2026] CSIH 40 |
| Date | 14 August 2026 |
| Published date | 14 August 2026 |
| Docket Number | XA105/25 |
FIRST DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION
[2026] CSIH 40
XA105/25
Lord President
Lord Clark
Lord Ericht
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD PENTLAND, the LORD PRESIDENT
in the appeal under section 239 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997
by
ACORN BIOENERGY LIMITED
Appellant
against
THE SCOTTISH MINISTERS
Respondents
Appellant: Mure KC; Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP
Respondents: Donnelly; The Scottish Government Legal Directorate
14 August 2026
Introduction
[1] On 28 April 2023, the appellant applied to Moray Council as the local planning
authority for planning permission for a 100GWh (gigawatt hours) per year anaerobic
digestion plant to be constructed on land at Longmorn, south of Elgin. The location of the
proposed development is shown in the following red line drawing:
2
[2] The proposed layout of the site is depicted in the following drawing:
[3] The purpose of the plant would be to process by-products of the whisky distilling
industry, along with some agricultural products and by-products. The plant’s main output
would be biomethane. This would either be injected into the gas grid or used by industry as
a low carbon gas to replace fossil fuels employed in heating and transport. A gas main runs
alongside the A941 within the eastern edge of the site. A by-product of the digestion process
is digestate; this is used as a natural fertilizer for agriculture.
[4] The project would incorporate carbon capture technology, allowing CO2 created by
the process to be captured and either sold as a high-grade gas (to replace CO2 manufactured
using fossil fuels), or removed for carbon capture and storage.
[5] The appellant maintained that the development would promote the circular
economy for a number of reasons: (i) it would process distillery by-products while also
producing digestate for farmers producing for the distillery and for the plant itself; (ii) it
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