PLANS for an £8million windfarm near Ashkirk have been rejected by Scottish Borders councillors.
The proposal would have seen seven turbines, of up to 132m in height, erected on land to the north-west of Roberton.
The company behind the Barrell Law plans, Germany-based ABO Wind, has faced fierce objections from local residents, community councils and Scottish Borders councillors, ever since it first unveiled its intention to build a wind farm on the site in 2012.
That initial rejection stemmed from concerns voiced by the Ministry of Defence over possible interference with the radar systems at RAF Spadeadam, near Brampton.
The plans were subsequently revised and reduced from eight turbines to seven, with the MoD withdrawing its objections, and officers from Scottish Borders Council’s planning department recommending the revised plans for approval.
However, the majority of the council’s planning and building standards committee, which met on Monday, took a different view.
Speaking in favour of rejecting the wind farm plans, Kelso councillor Simon Mountford said: “I think what it really boils down to is whether the impacts are adverse, significant and unacceptable.
“Scottish Natural Heritage talks about the impacts at the nearby reservoir as being significant and adverse.
“The environmental assessment talks about the impact at the William Ogilvie cairn, near Borthwickshiels, as being significant and adverse, so it really comes down to if these significant and adverse impacts are also unacceptable, although what I find unacceptable may differ to what someone else may find unacceptable. It’s subjective.
“The officers and the consultees have expressed reservations, even though they might not have objected.
“I think when you join together all these different aspects, of the reservoir, of the William Ogilvie cairn, the cumulative and residential impacts, in my view that makes this application unacceptable.”
A report put to the committee found that 75 comments had been submitted to Scottish Borders Council regarding the project, and all but one of those were objections.
The council also received objections from six community councils that would be within sight of the wind farm, and Hawick councillors David Paterson and Watson McAteer also voiced their objections.
The latter wrote to his fellow councillors, imploring them to reject the wind farm: “This application is a test and should this authority grant the application it is in danger of sending a signal to all developers that rejection is simply a temporary set back and that after some fine tuning reapplication is likely to be successful.
“This approach is debilitating for fragile communities who are being worn down by commercial enterprises that bring financial muscle to a process destined to create over proliferation, landscape desecration and wind turbine blight to a naturally beautiful area of the Borders.
“Members, those I represent can see no valid reason why the previous rejection is not equally valid today and it is your responsibility to ensure that this community is listened to.
“It is quite ridiculous that those who live and nurture this area are once again being called to fight to protect a precious environment, that includes a perilous roads network, from a profit centred business who have no interest in the effect their development will have on such a historic rural community.”
Not all councillors opposed the development, however, with East Berwickshire councillor Helen Laing proposing a motion to support officer’s recommendations and approve the application, which Tweeddale East councillor Eric Small seconded.
Councillor Laing said the revised plans were a big improvement on the 2012 application: “I think there has been a significant change to what they have proposed.
“I do have my concerns, particularly around the impact on nearby properties, but on balance I am supportive of the officer’s recommendations. There are lots of advantages to this.”
Despite councillor Laing and councillor Small’s support for the bid, the remaining five members of the committee voted to reject the proposals.
Speaking after the meeting, ABO Wind’s head of development, Clark Crosbie, said: “We are extremely disappointed by the decision of the council’s planning committee.
“We have worked very closely and collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders over the past few years to develop this project and we believe very strongly that it complied with all relevant technical and planning requirements.
“The site is located well outside the area being discussed for a proposed Borders national park, has good wind resource, a readily available electricity grid connection, proven turbine delivery route and is relatively isolated.
“It is also located in an area identified in the council’s finalised renewable energy supplementary guidance, dated March 2018, as having the highest capacity for wind turbine development.
“We were especially disappointed with the decision, given that the application was presented at the planning committee with no objections from any of the statutory consultees and was recommended for approval by the council’s own chief planning officer.
“We will now review the decision in detail before considering our next steps.”
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