Anger as Scottish government discounts council objections to approve vast wind farm

The community had been anticipating a public hearing on the Ditcher Law wind farm, about 25 miles south-east of Edinburgh near Oxton. The application includes plans for eight turbines, five of which will be 200m high, and a battery energy storage system.

It is being developed by Ditcher Law Limited, an associated company of E Power Ltd, an associated company of Ireland’s Invis Energy.

Residents have pushed back, citing significant visual impact and effect on the local landscape.

The council formally objected to the development which, under current Scottish energy policy, would normally lead to a public inquiry. However, the Energy Consents Unit (ECU), which handles applications for electricity stations over 50MW, has now ruled that the concern raised by the council was made too late in the application process.

The Ditcher Law application was submitted to the ECU in September 2023, but campaigners say crucial additional information, including an impact study, was not known until 10 April 2025. A deadline for comments on the new information was set by the ECU for 16 May, 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 applications, but its call for an extension to the deadline was rejected.

Heriot Community Council objected to the Ditcher Law scheme, due to its impact on the landscape.

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 180-metres and 200-metres tall, a battery energy storage system, anemometry mast, associated infrastructure, access tracks and drainage would 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.

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