SNP Government overrules Scots council to approve huge wind farm in special landscape area

Scottish Borders Council was given just five weeks to respond to the Ditcher Law application and a request for more time was refused, despite the authority being inundated with turbine applications

Scottish Government planners have approved a large wind farm development in the Lammermuir Hills Special Landscape Area, overriding an objection lodged by Scottish Borders Council.

The council's concerns over Ditcher Law in the Borders would usually trigger a public local inquiry but the Energy Consent Unit has ruled that the stance was lodged too late in the application process.

The application was submitted to the ECU in September 2023, but the developer did not provide crucial additional information, including an impact study, until April 10, 2025. A deadline for comments was set by the ECU for May 16, just five weeks later.

The council advised that it would be unable to review the new information for several months, due to a massive backlog in Section 36 wind farm applications. But the call for an extension to the deadline was rejected, and critics said the decision – announced on Friday – means that serious concerns from local bodies have been ignored.

Heriot Community Council also objected to the Ditcher Law scheme, due to its impact on the landscape character and natural beauty of the region. John Williams, chair of Heriot Community Council said: "This decision is totally anti-democratic and rides roughshod over the views of local communities and the democratically elected councillors of Scottish Borders Council.

"To give them only five weeks to review such a major scheme is totally unfair. The council has been inundated with applications and had already advised the ECU that its planning committee was fully booked for the next six months."

The plan for eight turbines of between 180m and 200m in height, as well as a battery energy storage system, anemometry mast, infrastructure, access tracks and drainage will cover over 2,000 acres at Ditcher Law near Oxton in the Borders. The area is designated as a Special Landscape Area, with peatland, woodland, meandering burns and moorland.

The new wind farm will be just 8km from the Southern Upland Way, and there are already four wind farms in the area – Dun Law and Dun Law extension, Pogbie and Keith Hill – all within 2km.

Rory Steel, chair of Lauderdale Preservation Group, said: "This is a seriously flawed decision which is of grave concern to people in Lauderdale and right across the Borders. This development is totally in the wrong place, is a threat to wildlife and even worse – it is unnecessary.

"Scotland’s current and future energy demand has already been met – even looking ahead to 2050 there is already excess power generation in Scotland. We must call to a halt to this industrialisation of our countryside, until there is a proper strategy in place for new energy developments."

The decision states that Scottish Ministers received approximately 66 representations regarding the development, including three responses in support of the application and 63 responses against.