A JOURNALIST who specialises in environmental and human rights investigations has won a battle with council planners.

Until he moved to Selkirk last year, Gethin Chamberlain spent six years as The Observer’s South Asia correspondent, based in India.

In May, he submitted a planning application seeking consent to install an array of 16 solar panels on the rear sloping roof of his 19th century home at Raebank in Chapel Street which runs between High Street and Ettrick Terrace in the town’s Conservation Area.

But, using delegated powers, a planning officer with Scottish Borders Council rejected the bid claiming the panels would, as a result of their prominent siting, have “an adverse impact on the character and appearance” of the area.

Mr Chamberlain disagreed and lodged an appeal with SBC’s local review body (LRB).

And last week, the five councillors on that arbitration committee unanimously agreed to give him the green light.

Noting there had been no neighbour objections to his proposal, Mr Chamberlain told them: “I care about the environment”.

“It is important to me to demonstrate that I do not merely criticise poor environmental practice, but that I take practical steps to set an example,” he wrote.

He said the planning officer’s rejection had been based on a subjective view of what constituted an unacceptable impact and did not give sufficient weight to local and national policies on the importance of renewable energy and the merits of micro-generation schemes.

And he cited the “precedent” of Selkirk Parish Church – also within the Conservation Area - where 40 solar panels, which were clearly visible from High Street, had been installed a decade ago.

“I would argue these must have a more significant visual impact than 16 panels on the rear roof of a private dwelling in a back road,” he added.

A former chief reporter with The Scotsman, Mr Chamberlain works for a range of international publications including the Sunday People and the China Morning Post. As a foreign affairs journalist, he was shortlisted in the 2014 British Journalism Awards.