Chamber and committees

Mr and Mrs Spratling submission of 28 July 2021

PE1864/KKKK - Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore windfarms

We live in a beautiful place of outstanding natural beauty with a historic landscape. It should be a national park, that’s why we moved here. In normal times with walkers and joggers going up Skelfhill pen, holidaymakers cycling and horse riding plus Common riding it can get busy. Now it’s all going to be destroyed by 75 Turbines at a height of 220 metres. They will be the biggest there is.

We have asked Muirhall Energy three times where the acres and acres of solar photovoltaic panels are going and sub-station. We have still not had an answer.

In the area where we live, we went walking up Southdean rig and looked at the Northhouse Burn and Cromrig Burn and all the little tributaries running down into the river Teviot. We had a lot of rain 3 days in March so there was a lot of water! Imagine if they put all those turbine foundations - something like 18 square metres or more of concrete - and all the crane bases with all the road access to each of the 75 proposed turbines.

The forest is almost all but cut down around Staney Hill and surrounding area due to phytophtora ramorum. There is nothing stopping the surface runoff of water now. There is already a lot of erosion on the banks of the burn, that’s before all that concrete goes down.

They are already spending £91 million on the flood defences in Hawick, but they could now possibly get overwhelmed. We told Muirhall Energy, they picked our brains and then in response they said they will be now put in pond catchment areas.

We have goshawks nesting near the proposed site. The Turbines will be right in the flight path of the migrating geese and we get low clouds and fog at that time of year they will fly straight into them. We also get flocks of fieldfares, they are also red listed. We are feeding the red squirrels in the garden now that part of the forest has been cut down.

The entrance to the site will be massive area taking in the old Northhouse forests walks signs across the road. The road will block the access to the A7 for work and shopping, and workmen will probably use the road into Northhouse carpark pass alderybar to get to work which will be another interference. 

They just seem to buy people out, they have already bought a house near here. Certain home owners are getting paid out. Farmers and land owners couldn't care less with the obscene amount of money they are getting.

We don't want to move from here, but there is no way we could sell our house now anyway. It will be like living in a horse shoe of turbines, with the flicking noise and light pollution. It’s shocking what Muirhall Energy are trying to do. With this going on we now feel like prisoners in our own home.

The Scottish Government recommends normal size turbines should be 2 km from a house. We are not even a third of that. When we asked that question to Muirhall Energy, they said because it’s not a town or village and because we are on our own, it doesn't count, but we pay our way like everyone else. 

It's getting really secretive around here now. People knew about this ages ago, we only found out with a leaflet though the door with a very misleading map. We are by ourselves, so many others seem to be in it for the money. 

We also asked about the statement that there is no environmental landscape designation in this area. How can they say that with everything that this countryside has? The Scottish Government should look after the precious countryside. Once its buried under a sea of solar panels and turbines, it will lost for this generation.