Fallago Rig wind farm inquiry to be re-opened
THE saga of the proposed 48 turbine wind farm at Fallago Rig has taken another twist this week - the Scottish Government finally agreeing to the many calls for the public inquiry to be re-opened.
The Reporter, Ms Karen Heywood, who heard the original public inquiry back in February 2008, has been appointed to re-open the inquiry and although no firm date has yet been fixed for it to start, it is hoped to be in January next year, almost two years after the inquiry first opened. Government officials describe such a delay as "unusual" although not without precedent.
Scottish Borders Council turned down a planning application by North British Windpower Ltd for the wind farm on the western edge of the Lammermuirs and when their decision was sent to Scottish Ministers a public inquiry was ordered. However, when the Reporter gave her findings to Scottish MInisters in August of that year they were not made public and despite repeated demands there was a stony silence from Edinburgh.
One of the parties who had opposed the wind farm development was the Ministry of Defence who expressed concern about the potential impact it would have on their air defence radar. But in May this year it was discovered that the Government's Renewable Energy Division had "been in contact with the MoD and the applicant", prompting both SBC and East Lothian Council to formally express "growing consternation" that Scottish Ministers may be acting outwith their power.
In July the MoD announced they had withdrawn their opposition prompting demands for the public inquiry to be re-opnend and now three months later that request has been granted although the remit of the inquiry is restricted to the MoD's new evidence.
Jamie Hume, head of Renewable Energy Division of the Scottish Government issued an official Minute of Appointment, although it gives the wrong date for the initial inquiry, giving 2007 instead of 2008.
The Minute reads: "This re-opened inquiry should be restricted to consider only the issue of potential impact on the Brizlee Wood Air Defence Radar and the new evidence submitted by the Ministry of Defence in this respect.
"In this instance Scottish Borders Council has lodged an objection to the proposal and this has not been withdrawn. East Lothian Council, the Ministry of Defence and Scottish Natural Heritage also submitted objections.
"Further to the Public Local Inquiry undertaken by Karen Heywood in February 2007 (sic), new evidence from the Ministry of Defence has been submitted to Ministers and subsequently issued to those interested parties who appeared at the inquiry. As a direct result a formal request to re-open this inquiry has been received."
An SBC spokesperson responded: "After receiving formal intimation that the Fallago Rig Inquiry is to be reopened, Scottish Borders Council have written to the Energy Consent Unit to seek confirmation of the scope of the re-opened inquiry.
"That confirmation is still awaited.
"The council did not seek the re-opening of the inquiry but did submit that any re-opened inquiry should not be restricted to considering only the withdrawal of the MOD objection. It will therefore be disappointing if the inquiry is to be so restricted.
"The council maintains its objection to the proposed scheme and will make written representations to that effect."
Mark Rowley, vice chairman of Cranshaws, Ellemford and Longformacus Community Council said they are delighted that the Scottish Government have, at last, agreed to their call to re-open the inquiry into the Fallago Ridge wind farm, although there is frustration that it will be restricted to discussing the MoD evidence.
He said: "It is now over two years since the original inquiry was convened and the windfarm landscape in the Lammermuirs has changed massively, so we are shocked that the Government has deliberately limited the inquiry's terms of reference to just aviation issues when there are many other vital issues that deserve to be openly addressed.
"Since the inquiry was convened in 2007 the whole context for windfarms in the Lammermuirs has changed, with more turbines constructed at Crystal Rig, at Aikengall and now a new 30-turbine installation threatened at Wester Dod, so it would be an outrage, and contrary to all principles of natural justice, for the cumulative impacts and effects on the landscape not to be looked at fully.
"The Government is clearly doing everything it can to railroad consent for this windfarm; the local communities rejected it, Scottish Borders Council rejected it and the Reporter rejected it, yet the government has deliberately sought to avoid full and proper scrutiny in an open and full Public Local Inquiry.
"There is an exceptionally strong case for the entire inquiry to be reopened fully - not least as the time since it was first convened is huge, we sat in the pre inquiry meeting in the late summer of 2007 and evidence was submitted in 2007."
Local MSP John Lamont commented: "This saga has raised some very serious questions about how the planning process operates in relation to wind farm developments. By instructing the Reporter to partially re-open the inquiry, Ministers have recognised that it is appropriate to consider this again. However, questions remain as to what evidence will be permitted.
"Given that the reporter's finding have been kept secret for over a year, there is a great deal which needs to be done to improve the transparency of the process. People quite rightly want this seemingly endless saga to be resolved but it is also important that the integrity of the planning process is upheld."
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Weather for Duns
Thursday 17 May 2012
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