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Fears for Reiver heartland under threat from turbines
Hermitage Castle in the Scottish Borders
BORDER warfare has broken out over the threat to one of the oldest castles in Scotland from a proposed wind farm project in Liddesdale.
Hermitage Castle has stood guard over the valley of the Liddel Water for 400 years – an area described by George Macdonald Fraser in his famous book on the reivers, The Steel Bonnets, as ‘the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’.
As such, it is one of the country’s oldest surviving castles, but now Northampton-based energy company Infinis wants to erect 20 giant turbines, each 125m high, on nearby farm land.
It has already submitted a scoping report to Scottish Borders Council, which has also approved the firm’s application for a wind-measuring anemometer mast just a few miles from the castle, on a site christened ‘Windy Edge Wind Farm’.
As reported in TheSouthern in July, the project has already attracted fierce local opposition with the Hermitage Action Group being formed to fight a scheme members claim will spoil one of the most historic areas of the Borders.
Malcolm McGregor, from the Hermitage Action Group which was formed in July, says the views of the castle will be spoiled if the development goes ahead.
“This is a unique area of cultural heritage and landscape value, and one we believe entirely unsuitable for the siting of a wind farm,” he told TheSouthern.
“We are now trying to marshal as many supporters as possible, because if nothing is done we are going to be plagued with this sort of situation over the coming years.”
And the group has support from local Scottish Borders councillor David Paterson, who says tourism in the area could be seriously hampered by the giant turbines. “A lot of people come to see Hermitage Castle and the valley ever year. The whole area is of great historic value, but these turbines would spoil all that.”
Borders historian, author and weaponry expert, Brian Moffatt, who used to live close to the castle, says the landscape surrounding the castle and the wider area of Liddesdale should be much more protected from developers.
“Liddesdale is beautiful and wild. It is famous worldwide. It is iconic and ought to be a protected landscape,” said Mr Moffatt.
“Liddesdale is one of the last untouched prehistoric/medieval landscapes in Britain. It has never been fully surveyed and what has been surveyed has never been fully published.
“The landscape bears the evidence of the full range of historic and indeed prehistoric human occupation. The remains of the homes of the Border reivers still exist in the valleys and hills. They are a resource of immeasurable value to the Borders which will continue to generate tourism for all of the forseeable future. That is where its development potential lies.”
Asked for a comment, Matt Chapman, a spokesman from Selkirk-based Smithy House Associates – consultants working on behalf of Infinis – said it was early days yet.
“We’re just starting the community consultation phase, so it’s only the early stages of the project,” said Mr Chapman.
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Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Wind direction: North east
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
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Black Grouse
Monday, October 17, 2011 at 06:46 PMMs Robson You are entitled to like turbines, but the comparison with forestry planting is rather silly. I think we all would agree that uniform blocks of conifers are boring, but they do at least follow landforms and they are usually only 10 to 15m high. Where is the comparison with 125m (410 ft) turbines that are totally out of scale with the landscape and break horizons for tens of miles? Forestry is also more effective than wind turbines at moderating CO2 levels! As for tourist attractions, can I remind you of the fate of the Gaia centre at Delabole. Opened in 1991, it was the UK's first commercial windfarm and obviously had a rarity value. The centre cost £5m to build and shut just three years after opening. It was supposed to attract 150,000 visitors a year, but only a tenth of that number actually turned up. I quote from the centre's CEO: "We put a lot of work in and and a lot of investment over the last few months to see if the centre could be salvaged as an a exhibition on renewable energy. "But, sadly, just like many eco-attractions, they're just not sustainable, there's just not enough interest." ('Energy tourist attraction shuts', BBC News, 30 September, 2004). The Eco-centre at Swaffham is also short of visitors and, last time I called, was only doing turbine tours by appointment.
Black Grouse
Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 05:45 PMCould somebody from HAG please make sure that the group's contact details are more widely known. It would help if you were to copy them and campaign news to neighbouring campaign websites and other websites that are trying to publicise the issues such as windbyte.co.uk
ValRobson
Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 02:04 PMDear Editor I am not a great supporter of 'windmills' for reasons wider than that they affect our rural landscapes . However, this one might be one of the less objectionable in terms of its surroundings and It might also offer the communities of Liddesdale (Hermitage and Newcastleton) something towards the local economy. It would certainly provide greater community benefits than those achieved by blanket afforestation which has rendered the area one great sea of green monoculture which most certainly does not increase tourism (not everyone rides mountain bikes). Hermitage castle and the routes to get to it have already been tainted by disgraceful afforestation landscaping styles.(including hardwoods)which have already spoiled many other areas of naturalbeauty and historic sites.One might also questionsome of the nonsense that has been created around the history of Hermitage Castle in comparison to that of the more important Liddel Castle. Maybe it is worthwhile considering these impediments to that great white hope of the local economy - 'Tourism' - in a more realistic way. Who knows - the turbines may even attract people to visit the area - some do like them! Val Robson a Liddesdale dweller from 1979 - 2009
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