Hag Law wind farm plans ‘deeply concerning’ 

West Linton Community Council has objected to plans to build an eight-turbine wind farm at Hag Law, near Romanno Bridge.

However, local residents have raised concerns that their discussions over the West Coast Energy proposals were held in private.

Paul Aitken questioned whether their decision may be influenced by the company’s decision to sponsor local football team Linton Hotspur.

But community councillor Graham Tulloch insisted there was “nothing sinister” in the decision to hold discussions in private.

Mr Aitken said: “Frankly, it’s deeply concerning that our beautiful countryside, our water supplies, and potentially our very health might all have been sold for the price of a few football shirts.

“Certainly West Linton Community Council has not made any effort to poll local residents in any meaningful way, so any opinion expressed by them to Scottish Borders Council is simply their own and is neither impartial nor representative of the wider community as it should be. They didn’t even know the submission deadline.”

Mr Tulloch explained that it was “not uncommon” for community councils to hold discussions in private.

“We needed to speak frankly and openly on the issues without having everything thrown back at us,” he said.

“It’s not the first time we’ve done this. I remember we had a private discussion about the Citizen of the Year.

“There was a lengthy discussion on the windfarm and by a majority we decided that we could not support the Hag Law development as it stands.”

During the meeting Mr Aitken told councillors: “I would like to see West Linton Community Council make some statement about their views on the windfarm.

“Since all the other community councils have made statements it seems that by doing this West Linton is giving a tacit approval to the development.

“It might well be that the developer could argue West Linton is too late in making its opinions known – my own fear is that we have missed the deadline.

“When I last checked there were 65 objections to the windfarm – and on the planning website it’s 99 per cent against.

“This is going to be a massive development. When you are standing on the village green you will be able to watch the turbines going round.

“This will not just be a legacy for the next 25 years but the next 50 and 100 years.”

The final decision on the windfarm rests with SBC and community councillor Anne McKenzie said: “We will only be able to put in our opinion. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to sway the decision.”

But another resident Mick Armstrong said: “The community council argument is like them saying they are not going to use their vote in an election.”

Mr Tulloch promised that the community council would write to SBC with their views on the development.

Speaking at the Tweeddale Area Forum several community councillors complained about a lack of communication about windfarms.

Gordon Hughes, the chairman of Manor, Stobo and Lyne Community Council, said: “EU law requires information to be released but there appears to be a deliberate strategy of giving out no information and this is outrageous.”

Linton Hotspur confirmed it had received a donation from West Coast Energy – and that the money was used to buy football strips.

The football club’s vice chairman Ivan Mackenzie gives the only supportive comment for the windfarm development on Scottish Borders Council’s planning website.

Mr Mackenzie was unavailable but Linton Hotspur chairman Campbell Forsyth said: “Ivan was expressing a personal view about the windfarm and that is nothing to do with the football club.

“We are always looking at various ways of funding and we did take a donation from West Coast Energy about 12 months ago and that money was used to buy strips.

“But we are not going to make any comment about whether we are supportive of the wind farm.”