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Council opposes wind farm near three Iron Age hillforts

Giancarlo Rinaldiand
David Knox,BBC Scotland News, Scottish Borders Council
News imageWalter Baxter A pyramid shaped stone cairn on the top of a Borders hillside. There are stones littered around it on a grassy landscape with a cloudy blue sky above.Walter Baxter
A cairn marks the site of one of the former hillforts in the Lammermuir Hills

A council has agreed to oppose plans for a wind farm in the Lammermuir Hills near to where three Iron Age hillforts once stood.

Developer RES wants to build 12 turbines as part of its Glenburnie project, near Oxton.

Hawick and Denholm councillor Neil Richards told Scottish Borders Council's planning committee: "It would be a scandal to develop anywhere near these hillforts."

It agreed to object to the plans which is likely to trigger a public inquiry into the proposals.

The scheme has been scaled back since it was first proposed but councillors still had concerns about its impact.

Members of the planning committee carried out a site visit themselves last week in order to fully understand the potential impact on the area.

Tweeddale West councillor Viv Thomson said: "When you are standing in this landscape you understand how important these hillforts are."

The proposal originally consisted of 19 turbines and was called the Longcroft wind farm.

A report to councillors recognised the contribution that the project could make towards meeting climate change objectives and emission reduction targets and its net economic effects.

It also stated that the revised plans would not result in widespread significant landscape and visual effects.

News imageJim Barton A sweeping view across the hills in the Scottish Borders with a patchwork of field colours and a triangular stone monument in the foregroundJim Barton
The turbines would be near the site of three Iron Age hillforts

The area of concern for the council, however, was the "significant adverse effects" on the setting of the three hillforts.

A report said the scale of the turbines - 220m (720ft) in height - would "dominate key views" which were "integral to the setting of these scheduled monuments and their cultural appreciation".

It concluded that "no exceptional circumstances" had been shown to justify such impacts nor had any mitigation measures "reduced the impacts to tolerable levels".

Developer RES said the project could meet the energy needs of nearly 100,000 homes.

It added that it would generate a community benefit fund of close to £20m over its operational lifetime and deliver about £10m in inward investment during its construction.