Claims 200 metre high turbines will fit already ‘cluttered’ hills

A public inquiry into plans to put 200-metre high wind turbines in the East Lothian countryside has heard claims they will not have a ‘significant’ impact because the area is already surrounded by them.

Lawyer for applicants Belltown Power Marcus Trinick KC said their proposal to put 15 turbines at Newland Hill, near Gifford, would fit into the area pointing to to large wind farm developments at Crystal Rig, Aikengall and Fallago Rig in the Lammermuirs.

However, East Lothian Council said allowing the new wind farm and accompanying battery energy storage on the site would have an adverse impact on the Lammermuirs landscape and special landscape areas.

Speaking to the inquiry, the council’s senior landscape projects officer said the large wind farms were on the edges of the Lammermuirs, while the Newland Hill proposal would be in the middle.

They said: “The proposals are introducing a new prominent developing where there is not one at present.”

Scottish Ministers are holding hearings into the plans for the wind farm and battery energy storage site at Newland Hill after East Lothian Council objected to the proposals.

It began with a community hearing on Monday evening in Gifford Village Hall when more then 100 people packed in, with more outside, to make their voices heard to the Scottish Government Reporter.

On Tuesday, the Reporter began hearing evidence on the Landscape and Visual Impact of the project, with the applicant and East Lothian Council attending alongside representatives from Northumberland, Hopes and Mayshiel Estates, the campaign group Lammermuir SOS, and community council representatives.

During Wednesday’s session, Mr Trinick described the Lammermuirs current and approved wind farm projects as already having an impact on the landscape areas.

He told the inquiry: “It is a pretty stacked picture”.

And he questioned why East Lothian Council had designated eight different Special Landscape Areas across the Lammermuirs on its side of the county border, while neighbouring Scottish Borders Council had designated just one SLA for the whole of the Lammermuirs in its boundary.

The council’s landscape officer told the inquiry: “Each of the SLAs cover more than just the Lammermuirs, they include additional areas for example one from Lammermuir to Yester covers a much wider area of significance and each has its own characteristics.

“We have taken a different approach to Scottish Borders Council.”

The public inquiry was sparked after the project which is decided by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit faced formal opposition from the local authority.

In September 2024 at a meeting of East Lothian Council’s planning committee elected members voted to lodge a formal objection to the plans after declaring ‘enough is enough’.

Council leader Norman Hampshire said, at the time, the number of wind farm proposals being put forward for the East Lothian countryside was too high.

He said: “There is a limit to how much our landscape can take or it will be destroyed completely. You can’t have the whole of East Lothian covered in wind turbines.”

The hearings continue at Gifford Village Hall and can be viewed on the DPEA’s Youtube channel.