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18/03/11

Eddleston Says No To Spurlens Rig

Fantastic news! An article from the Peebleshire News

David O'Leary, Peebleshire News, 18 Mar 2011

The community of Eddleston has said no to plans for a six turbine windfarm near Leadburn.
Lomond Energy, the company behind the Spurlens Rig development, submitted their plan to Scottish Borders Council last December which has promptly drawn over 500 objections.
Eddleston Community Council meanwhile wished to consult with the whole community by way of a survey before forming their own response.

And followng a large response they've decided their answer is no.

Community council secretary Margot Porter said: "We were surprised by the strength of response to the survey. "Two-thirds of those surveyed said no to this application even though the vast majority stated they were in favour of windfarms.

"This is also the view of the community council, it's not whining nimbyism though, it's just that the location is completely wrong. The development is both too close to nearby houses and the road.

"Rather than becoming part of the view, which windafrms can sometimes be, this windfarm would only get in the way of it."

In another first for the Borders, Lomond Energy have offered the three nearby communities of Lamancha, Eddleston and Howgate, direct ownership of one single turbine, although at an eye-watering £700,000 one-off cost.

In respect of this Margot added: "Almost everyone surveyed was against the community share, they view it as a bribe.

"We asked even if the application goes ahead would people be in favour of it and the answer was a resounding no. People felt it wasn't morally right for a community of this size to take on a loan of this amount."

Scottish Borders Council planning committee members will now rule on the application in the coming months.

 

Meeting of the Eddleston Community Council on 26th January 2011

There will be a meeting of the Eddleston Community Council on Wednesday, 26th January at 8pm in Eddleston Village Hall to gauge the local communities feeling for the proposal and we would urge you all to attend and tell as many locals as you can.

The Community Council needs to hear the local communities concerns in order to form an objection to the proposal and at the moment they are undecided.

Steve Macken, the developer will also be there to answer your questions. In light of the fact that Lomond Energy have reported that feedback from the 'Exhibitions' was fairly balanced it is essential that Eddleston Community Council know the true feelings of us all so please do try and attend.

In addition to this the Eddleston Community Council have produced a feedback form which can be mailed in or presented on the night and we urge people to get these forms out to as many local people as possible and to get them returned to Eddleston Community Council

 

 

10/11/10

Public Exhibitions - Spurlens Rig

 

There are three afternoon exhibitions next week that the developers will attend and where their plans will be shown.

Howgate Village Hall, 1pm -8pm, Monday 15th November

Lamancha Hub, 1pm-7pm, Thursday 18th November

Eddleston Village Hall, 1pm-7pm, Friday 19th November

 

We had asked for longer opening times for these as we feel that the limited hours won't allow many people to attend. This goes against what Lomond Energy had promised and makes a mockery of their claims of proper public engagement. However our requests were flatly refused.

Please try and attend these exhibitions if you can and show them that the local community cares about this and will not let them push ahead without a fight.

Last year at a meeting in Edddleston, Steve Macken of Lomond Energy claimed developers wanted to turn the Penicuik / Peebles road into a wind farm corridor like the A7 and A68. The first part of this plan has been thwarted at Auchencorth.

Spurlens Rig is a mere three miles away.

26/09/08

Peebleshire News

Controversial wind farm plans receive major boost
By David O'Leary

Plans for a controversial wind farm at the entrance to the Borders have been given a major boost. Approval has been given to erect a 60m high meteorological mast visible from the A703 at land South East of Craigburn Cottage, Leadburn.

This mast will serve to monitor wind speeds and wind directions as part of a wind monitoring exercise for a proposed wind farm at Spurlens Rig.

Permission for the mast, which has garnered 32 letters of objection from local residents, was granted for a period of three years. The main points of objection were that the structure would alter the rural landscape of the area and that it would have a detrimental effect on agriculture and road safety. Also, many believed that the mast would detract from views of the Moorfoot Hills in a highly visible position for people leaving or entering the Borders.

Only recently Midlothian Council rejected proposals for a similar wind farm application three miles away at Auchencorth.

Local resident, Celia Hobbs said: " It would be sheer madness to have a sign welcoming people to the Borders with a backdrop of 125 m high industrial machines. "Wind farms should be sited where they do not destroy views to and from areas of great landscape value - the Pentlands and Moorfoorts are such areas."

Another local resident, Bruce Young echoed this. He said: "This mast is a ludicrous height and provides neither amenity nor other benefit to an attractive rural area."

Councillors at the meeting were however reminded that they were being asked to determine the current application for the temporary mast only and that they should not allow the proposed wind farm application to prejudice their decision.

06/09/08

apeal will be handing out information at the Howgate Country Fair on Saturday 6th September from 10am-2pm.We will be also collecting contact info from people who want to help out or be kept informed regarding then Wind Turbine development.

25/08/08

Arcus who are working on behalf of Lomond Energy, the Turbine Site Developer, have installed a number of Sound Pressure Meters (SPM's) to record the background noise levels at locations around the site. Initially these were both fewer and different to the ones set out in their Scoping Report. After pressure from apeal Arcus and Lomond relented and installed the SPM's where they had previously promised.

Stop Press!

According to Arcus they have extended their testing period as the site has been too quiet!

08/08/08

A Planning Application has been submitted for a 60m monitoring mast on the site. Apeal urged people to object to this, the precursor of the Turbine application itself. There was a large number of objections to the application all viewable at the Scottish Borders Councils Public Access Planning website.

We are anxiously awaiting the council's decision.