East Lothian wind farm plans will 'destroy' historic landscape, council warns

Council leader Norman Hampshire warned the county is at risk of being 'covered in wind turbines'

At a meeting of the local authority's planning committee this week council leader Norman Hampshire said residents believed enough was enough when it came to doing their part to tackle climate change.

He told representatives of the power company: "You can't have the whole of East Lothian covered in wind turbines."

His comments came after the company told the meeting that all potential green energy sites had to be developed and the plans for Newlands Hill, where 17 giant wind turbines are proposed, were a "concession" that would have to be made to deal with the crisis.

They said: "We are in a climate emergency and all sites that are viable need to be developed in order to tackle that emergency."

However Councillor Hampshire pointed out that the council had worked with other wind farm projects to keep turbines at the top of the hills away from the front of the landscape and that Belltown could have looked at a less intrusive area.

He said: "East Lothian has accepted a lot of sites along the top of the Lammermuirs. The county is contributing hugely to the climate change situation already and the capacity of the landscape is limited.

"It feesl to people in East Lothian that we are being asked to take much more than other areas across Scotland.

"There is a limit to how much our landscape can take or it will be destroyed completely."

The plans for the new wind turbines and a battery storage facility are with the Scottish Government's Energy Consent Unit which invited a formal response from the council to the proposal for land which lies 6km southeast of Gifford on the northern edge of the Lammermuir Hills

The council's head of planning Keith Dingwall recommended councillors objector to the development which he said would have a significant and adverse impact on the visual landscape and historic environment as well as potential impact on mountain hare population.

He also highlighted concerns about the proposed load route to and from the site which would go through prime agricultural land.

He said: “In our view the benefits of the proposal do not outweigh our conclusion that the proposed development is unacceptable. It is our recommendation the Energy Consents Unit is informed that East Lothian Council objects to the granting of consent.”

The application for the 870 hectare site for the project brought 699 representations with more than 665 supporting it.

However councillors were told a petition online had gathered more than 744 objections to the application.

The committee heard from objectors who raised concerns about the impact on the biodiversity of the hills, the planned route for heavy construction traffic to and from the site and effect on their rural communities.

Councillors expressed support for green projects but questioned whether the balance was being met in the county.

Provost John McMillan told the committee: “I have been working, particularly since Covid, on improvement, aspirations and enhancements for the rural economy and while I support green energy I think we have to think about the wider effect and negative impact this development might have."

And Councillor Cher Cassini said: “I am a huge supporter of green energy and wind farms however the supply of green energy does have a tipping point.”

Scottish Greens Councillor Shona McIntosh said: “I struggled with this because I am a big fan of renewable energy and am concerned about the climate emergency.

"However I am going to support officers, their report really does lay out why the impact on the landscape are more important and unacceptable.”