Call for immediate halt to new onshore wind farm developments in Scotland

The call reflects growing frustration among communities across Scotland, particularly in the Borders, which say their landscapes are being industrialised.

Mr MacAskill warned that vast areas of Scotland are now being treated as nothing more than an energy resource to be exploited, despite already hosting a disproportionate concentration of wind turbines.

Central to this argument is that Scotland already generates more renewable electricity than it can use. MacAskill said: “Scotland already produces more energy from renewable sources than our homes and businesses need. Onshore wind is at full capacity while offshore wind is expected to produce enough energy to power Scotland many times over. There is therefore absolutely no need to increase onshore wind.”

This surplus is not without consequence. The UK’s electricity transmission system cannot move Scotland’s excess supply to the rest of the UK, resulting in developers being paid to switch their turbines off. These “constraint payments” reached £1.7 billion in 2024/25, quadrupling in just five years.

This political intervention is an interesting development in the renewable energy debate. Borders Wind Farm Watch advocates that developments should be in the right place at the right time, rather than pursuing expansion at any cost.

The impact on local democracy has also become a growing area of concern. Councils are overwhelmed by a surge in wind farm applications, with planning departments struggling to cope and communities feeling sidelined.

Many residents, notably in the Borders, believe that developments are being pushed through without proper scrutiny. The planning system has created a situation where an unfit-for-purpose process enables developers to drive applications forward, with the blessing of Scottish Government and local concerns are often pushed aside.

Despite being surrounded by wind farms, households in the Borders, Highlands and the North often face the highest energy costs in the UK. Increasingly, communities are asking why they should bear the environmental and visual impacts when they see no meaningful economic return.

Tourism, one of Scotland’s largest rural industries, is also vulnerable. Saturating rural areas with more turbines risks threatening thousands of tourism jobs, far outweighing the limited employment created by wind farm projects.

There is a place for renewable energy, but communities are understandably  opposed to exploitation and poor planning processes