VIEWS SOUGHT ON LEITHENWATER WIND FARM PLANS

Local residents are being invited to view plans for a new Wind Energy Hub to the northeast of Peebles. The plans from Belltown Power will be on display for two days in mid April and the company are keen to get local feedback. The Belltown team will be on hand at the public exhibitions to answer any questions local residents may have and to gather views on the proposal. The exhibition will include detailed information about the project including visualisations from several viewpoints.

Commenting on the consultation, Peter Thomas, Senior Development Manager at Belltown Power said, “This is our first consultation event and we are keen to hear what local residents think of our plans for the Leithenwater development. We are trying to reach out to as many residents as we can to get their views. We’re holding in-person exhibitions in Eddleston, Innerleithen and Peebles as well as a virtual exhibition on our website and we have posted out an invitation and feedback form to households across the area.”

The site currently comprises commercial forestry, open moorland and sheep farming within the Leithenwater valley area. The project will consist of up to 13 turbines with maximum tip heights of 200m. We will work together with the local community and the landowners – Rosebery Estates – to deliver a project that maximises local benefits and clean energy, whilst sympathetically protecting and enhancing the natural environment.

A scoping report was submitted to the Scottish Government in September 2022. 

Commenting further, Peter Thomas, said, “We are fully committed to a full community benefit package that includes £5K per MW installed per year for the 40-year lifetime of the project. We’ve also developed a ground-breaking community ownership package that enables local communities to take an ownership stake so that they’re really invested in the project and so it brings tangible benefits to the heart of the community.”   

The online virtual exhibition will run on the website from 4 April to 3 May 2023 showing all the exhibition materials and allowing residents to leave feedback.

Public Exhibitions

We would like to invite you to join us in-person to meet the team and ask any questions
• 18 April, Eddleston Village Hall, 9am-12noon
• 18 April, Innerleithen Memorial Hall, 2-7.30pm
• 19 April, Peebles RFC 19 Eastgate, 9am-7pm

Come join us at one of these events and see how your community can contribute to tackling climate change in a significant way through hosting and part-owning a modern wind energy hub.

Our second round of public consultations takes place in November 2023. There will be in-person drop in exhibitions held at:

• 14 Nov, Eddleston Village Hall, 9am-12pm
• 14 Nov, Innerleithen Memorial Hall, 2pm-7pm
• 15 Nov, Peebles RFC, 19 Eastgate, 9am-7pm

Please come along and find out more about the proposal, ask any questions you may have, leave feedback and tell us how you'd like to see the community benefit fund used.

There is now also a virtual exhibition online for anyone who isn't able to make it along in person.

We are pleased to announce the submission of our planning application to the Scottish Government for Leithenwater Wind Energy Hub.

The submission - and all the associated documents - can be viewed on this website, or the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit (ECU) website at ECU00004619. Copies of the Non-Technical Summary and a digital copy of full planning application have been sent to the three host community councils, with a full hard copy placed in Peebles Library, available for public viewing.

People now have until June 3rd to make a formal represntation to the Government about the proposal via email to the ECU mailbox at representations@gov.scot; or by post to the Scottish Government, Energy Consents Unit, 4th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU, identifying the application and specifying the grounds for representation.

The proposal has been lodged following a 12-month long public consultation that included a series of public exhibitions and meetings with community councils, other local community organisations, local businesses and residents. We have also consulted with statutory bodies including NatureScot, Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

Some 539 people attended the public exhibitions held in April and November last year, and we received over 600 feedback forms. Analysis of that feedback shows that nearly three quarters of local people (74%) agreed that the proposed site is suitable for a wind farm.  Support for onshore wind more generally is strong in the area, with 81% of respondents expressing approval for onshore wind farms.

Speaking about the project, Peter Thomas, Senior Development Manager at Belltown, said.  “We would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to respond to our consultation and to give us their views over the past year. This has been invaluable in helping us shape our final proposals and in understanding local people’s priorities.

We will work together with the local community and the landowners to deliver a project that maximises local benefits and clean energy, whilst sympathetically protecting and enhancing the natural environment.”

Belltown will provide the local community with £5,000 per MW installed per year (index linked) of Community Benefit for the lifetime of the project. Based on the current proposal, this has the potential to generate approximately £420,000 a year for local communities every year, for the 40-year lifetime of the project (totalling £17.2m based on a 40-year operational life; true value will be higher as the community benefit will be index linked to CPI).

The public consultations found that two thirds of respondents would like the community benefit funds to be put towards the improvement of local facilities. Many people suggested that the funds could contribute to things that would support the wider community, such as apprenticeships. A significant number of other responses had ideas for how the project can protect and improve the local environment with suggestions including habitat restoration and tree planting.

As the project progresses, we will also continue discussions about a potential community stake in the project. We offer a ground-breaking Community Ownership scheme that can bring tangible benefits via the revenue generated by owning a stake in a renewable energy project. Local communities that host the wind energy hubs are offered 1% of the project ownership for free with a further 4% stake being available to purchase at cost, once the project is operational.

Peter Thomas added; “At Belltown, we fundamentally believe that renewable energy projects should benefit the communities that host them and we look forward to continuing our discussions with local people about the benefits that this proposal can deliver, as the application progresses.”

Should the proposal be consented, we will aim to start construction in 2026. The company offers a procurement policy that favours local contractors to ensure they and local suppliers benefit from the project.

As a Section 36 project, the application will eventually be determined by Scottish Government Ministers with Scottish Borders Council as a key consultee.