March 31, 2016
Scotland

SBC baulks at Stow wind farm

The Berwickshire News | 30 March 2016 | www.berwickshirenews.co.uk

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”.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/03/31/sbc-baulks-at-stow-wind-farm/