The planning committee of Scottish Borders Council has lodged an objection
to the extension of a wind farm near Stow.
The controversial bid comes from Wind Prospects Development 2 Ltd which
wants to add seven turbines, up to 110 metres high, to the array already
operating at Longpark, just south of the village on Bow Farm.
As the generating capacity of the installation exceeds 50MW, consent is in
the gift, not of the council, but of the Scottish Government’s Energy
Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU).
On Monday this week, the committee unanimously endorsed the assessment of
planning officer John Hiscox that the application was unacceptable in its
current form because two of the proposed turbines would be sited on ground
higher than any others on the hillside.
This, said Mr Hiscox, would give Longpark an “unbalanced and more prominent
appearance” and detract from the character of the landscape.
The council’s objection to the ECDU also cites “the harmful and
inappropriate visual impacts on the residential amenity of Stow” as well as
the “lack of certainty in relation to potential impacts on noise sensitive
receptors, including private residences”.
2 Comments