5 Dec 2025
A new plan for a major wind farm and battery system in highly sensitive Scottish Borders countryside has deepened community fears about the unprecedented industrialisation of their landscape.
A planning application for the Mid Hill wind farm southwest of Hawick, including 13 turbines up to 200 metres tall and an energy storage facility, has been lodged with the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU).
This latest submission adds to a relentless wave of wind farm projects across the Borders which many residents say is unfair and unsustainable.
The proposal lies within the safeguarding zone for the UK’s seismic array monitoring station at Eskdalemuir, with turbines planned between 15 km and 17 km from the globally significant facility.
The station run by the Ministry of Defence and is the only one in the UK, part of a worldwide network used to detect nuclear tests carried out anywhere in the world and depends on an environment with minimal interference.
A 10 km exclusion zone and a 50 km safeguarding zone were established to prevent wind turbine development because the vibrations disrupt the collection of seismic data, restrictions which remain fully in force.
Following sustained lobbying from renewable energy developers, the UK and Scottish Governments convened the Eskdalemuir Working Group to re-examine the current limits and the group is now working to produce updated guidance on managing nearby wind farm development.
Sarah St Pierre from the Borthwickwater Landscape Conservation Group said: “This region has been inundated with large-scale wind farm plans. Now, to satisfy industry demands, we are being asked to sacrifice not only our landscape but a critical part of the international security network that monitors nuclear activity in states such as Iran, North Korea, China and Russia. For what? A handful of additional turbines in an area already overloaded with them.
“The Borders has done more than its fair share. The system is saturated, the national grid struggles with oversupply, and communities feel ignored. More turbines here simply are not necessary.”
The application can be found here: https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00005192&T=0