2 Jul 2024
A Borders community council has said their community feels ‘dismayed’ by a Scottish Borders Council official’s decision to support a new wind farm despite it being rejected twice already, as well as receiving outright opposition from the local authority’s own landscape expert.
SBC’s chief planning officer has recommended approval for an eight-turbine wind farm at Wull Muir near Heriot and the application will be considered at next week’s council planning committee meeting on 8 July. He says the application could be approved ‘on balance’ because of the Scottish Government’s planning framework which favours wind farm applications being granted.
However, councillors have previously refused the application and an appeal against their decision was also rejected by a planning Reporter.
There has been a raft of objections submitted against the scheme, most notably from Heriot Community Council which submitted a comprehensive and detailed objection which councillors and the planning officer agreed were legitimate concerns.
SBC’s landscape architect has submitted a detailed report which states that the developer has failed to address the Reporter’s concerns and there is a danger of turning the Lammermuirs/Moorfoot escarpment, a much-valued natural amenity, into a “wind farm landscape”.
In her report the landscape architect said the new application “did not satisfactorily address the Reporter’s concern at the highly adverse landscape impact of the disruption to the escarpment”.
She also made clear that her objection to the application fell within the parameters of the new planning framework and the issues surrounding the application were not matters of policy.
Although the design has been changed, the increased height of the proposed turbines continued to be an issue and the scheme still created major landscape and visual impact.
The chief planning officer conceded in his report that there were legitimate concerns about the wind farm but he could recommend approval on balance because of the new planning framework.
John Williams, chair of Heriot Community Council, said: “We all understand the new planning framework, and although applications should be looked on favourably, it makes it clear they should not be approved at all costs.
“In this case that is what councillors are being asked to do – approve this scheme despite widespread and deeply felt local opposition and the fact that the council’s own landscape architect has set out very clear reasons why this scheme should not be approved.
“The community council had a very comprehensive objection to Wull Muir that has clearly fallen on deaf ears, despite the fact the fundamentals of this objection were taken on board by councillors and the reporter previously.
“There were more than double the objections to the scheme as there were in favour and local people feel utterly dismayed by this recommendation from the planning officer. We appeal to the planning committee to reject the application again and preserve this important Borders landscape.”