Developers withdraw plans for major Borders wind farm

Developers have dropped plans for what would have been one of the biggest wind farms in the Borders just a few weeks before a public inquiry was set to start.

Muirhall Energy had wanted to put up 52 turbines - of up to 240m (790ft) in height - on hills to the south of Hawick.

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) objected to the Teviot scheme and the Scottish government's planning and environmental appeals division had begun preparations for the inquiry to be held.

Campaigners have voiced their relief at the plans being withdrawn - but the company has said it intends to come back with revised proposals.

Last year, council officials recommended that the local authority should not object to the project but the planning committee voted by five to three to do so.

Concerns were raised over the adverse visual impact of the turbines - particularly on Hermitage Castle.

Councillors said they found the scale of the turbines "incredible" and described the application as "vandalism in the hills".

Their vote triggered the public inquiry which will now not go ahead.

One of the key issues was the fact that the Ministry of Defence objected as a statutory consultee of any proposed wind farm development within 50km (31 miles) of the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array.

It is used to detect any vibrations caused by nuclear tests but its operation can be compromised by wind turbines nearby.

The closest turbine from the proposed Teviot Wind Farm was approximately 28km (17 miles) away.

Muirhall energy managing director Sarah McIntosh said the application had been affected by "prolonged uncertainty" over the seismic array and expressed disappointment at the lack of any "meaningful progress".

"We have therefore taken the difficult decision to withdraw the current application and focus our efforts on bringing forward a revised proposal," she said.

Dr Christopher Ford, who has been supporting local opposition groups, said: "For the past four years the people who live in this area have gone through a lot of pain with this major development hanging over them - this is a great relief."

He believes the decision will be a warning for other renewable energy companies looking to develop in the south-west of the Borders.

He added: "We always knew that the prospect of this application succeeding was limited because of the issues surrounding Eskdalemuir - as well as the challenges of grid connection in this remote part of Scotland.

"A sensible developer would look at what's happened here and realise if Teviot wind farm can't go ahead, what chance does theirs have?".