Ministers urged to intervene in deadline row over Borders wind farm
Communities and energy officials are in dispute over whether a public inquiry is to go ahead.
Scottish ministers have been called to intervene in a wind farm row and order a public inquiry amid what campaigners have described as an “escalating crisis of confidence in the energy consents system”.
Communities in the Borders have been anticipating a public hearing on the Ditcher Law wind farm, about 25 miles south-east of Edinburgh near Oxton.
The application includes plans for eight turbines, five of which will be 200m high, and a battery energy storage system. Residents have pushed back against them, citing significant visual impact and effect on the local landscape.
The Scottish Borders Council (SBC) formally objected to the development which, under current Scottish energy policy, would normally lead to a public inquiry.
However, a row ensued after the Energy Consents Unit (ECU), which handles applications for electricity stations over 50MW, indicated the objection may be treated as late, thus removing the inquiry.
The Ditcher Law application was submitted to the ECU on September 15, 2023, but important additional information, including an impact study, was not submitted until April 10 this year.
A deadline for the new information was set for May 16.
SBC’s principal planning officer Scott Shearer informed the ECU the planning committee schedule was already fully booked until August due to high volumes of large-scale energy projects and requested an extension until August 13.
This was granted, but the ECU warned that as the statutory deadline for SBC’s response to the original 2024 application had been missed and that an objection based on the new submission would not automatically trigger a mandatory public inquiry.
The decision to call an inquiry falls to Scottish Ministers, but local community councils have argued that the planning authority cannot form a democratically approved response on “incomplete information”.
They claim by not resetting statutory deadlines with the publication of new material, the process has been “unbalanced”.
Rory Steel, chairman of local campaign group Lauderdale Preservation Group, said: “Ditcher Law is symptomatic of what is happening across Scotland with local authorities getting bombarded.
“Residents cannot be expected to accept a process in which the statutory consultation deadline expired more than a year before key information was even supplied. People will live with the consequences of this development for generations.
“Ministers must ensure an inquiry takes place so decisions are made on facts, not procedural loopholes, and there is a full, independent examination to provide the transparency and fairness a development with decades-long consequences demands.”
John Williams, chairman of the local Heriot Community Council said: “The initial objection by SBC represented the considered view of the statutory planning authority and must be given full weight, especially given the fact that vital information was submitted far beyond the original consultation deadline.
“Communities like ours already have little faith in the energy consents system, and SBC received an impossibly short timeframe to consider the additional information.
“If a PLI on Ditcher Law is blocked on a procedural technicality it would be a slap in the face for local democracy and accountability.”
The Scottish Government said it could not comment on live planning applications.
A series of consultations were hosted by Ditcher Law Limited, who is overseeing the development, up until May this year.
The company said following comments, changes to the plans included reducing the number of turbines from nine to eight, three of which have been reduced in height to 180m.
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