Published: Wednesday, 19th July, 2006 10:01
Blown away
By Border Telegraph Newsroom
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A CONTROVERSIAL wind farm above Stow will go ahead – despite being refused permission by the council.
The Scottish Executive has upheld an appeal by Wind Prospect to locate 19 110-metre-high turbines on land at Halkburn.
And fears are already being expressed that this decision could blow open the door for half-a-dozen other turbine applications.
A bid to erect 12 turbines on Toddleburn, near Lauder, was also refused by the planning committee , but it too is going through the appeal process.
And also looks likely to be given the green light if a similar pattern is followed by the appeal Reporter.
Proposals for wind farms at Minch Mooor and Broadmeadows, near Selkirk, Langhope Rig near Ashkirk, Fallago Rig in the Lammermuir Hills, and Dunion Hill at Jedburgh are all currently being considered by the council.
Senior planning official Alistair Lorimer admitted he was disappointed by this week’s announcement. He said: “This wasn’t the decision we were hoping for.
“We didn’t feel a development at Halkburn sat comfortably within our windfarm policy.
“Our view was that it had a significant adverse effect.
“But the Reporter didn’t feel the visual impact would be as severe as we did.”
The Halkburn bid attracted concerns from both Stow and Galashiels community councils, and 19 letters of objection were also posted.
A similar level of opposition faced up to the application for a windfarm at Toddleburn.
But neither of the proposals received objections from Scottish Natural Heritage, which is seen as a key factor in the Scottish Executive’s decision.
The planning boss agreed that SNH’s response could be crucial to future submissions, but said his department would continue to assess each application using council policy. He added: “We are currently assessing several applications and applying the same planning policies for each.
“If the Reporter comes in and gives greater importance to other factors it does not mean we will change our approach.”
Construction on the £33 million Stow windfarm is due to begin next spring, with electricity generation scheduled to start turning in spring, 2008.
Damian Aubrey, development manager with Wind Prospect, told us: “In making this decision, the Scottish Executive has shown that wind energy must play an increasingly important part in our future energy mix.
“With this proposal the Scottish Borders has an opportunity to contribute further to both UK and Scottish targets for Renewable Energy.”
The Scottish Executive’s target is for 18 per cent of the country’s electricity to come from green sources by 2010.
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