13 Feb 2026
The Scottish government’s Energy Consent Unit (ECU) has approved plans for Ditcher Law, a huge wind farm development in the Lammermuirs Special Landscape Area, overriding the objection lodged by Scottish Borders Council (SBC).
The SBC’s objection would usually trigger a public local inquiry but the ECU has ruled that the concern raised by the council was made too late in the application process.
The Ditcher Law application was submitted to the ECU in September 2023, but the developer did not provide crucial additional information, including an impact study, until 10 April 2025.
A deadline for comments on the new information was set by the ECU for 16 May, just five weeks later.
SBC advised that it would be unable to review the new information for several months, due to a massive backlog in Section 36 applications, but its call for an extension to the deadline was rejected.
SBC will have to reflect on how and why it was not in a position to respond on time and what it could have done in those circumstances, but when all is said and done, the decision means that serious concerns from local bodies, including SBC, have been ignored again.
Heriot Community Council objected to the Ditcher Law scheme, due to its impact on the landscape character and natural beauty of Heriot.
John Williams, chair of Heriot Community Council said: “This decision is totally anti-democratic and rides roughshod over the views of local communities and the democratically elected councillors of Scottish Borders Council. To give them only five weeks to review such a major scheme is totally unfair. The council has been inundated with applications and had already advised the ECU that its planning committee was fully booked for the next six months.”
The plan for eight turbines of between 180-metres and 200-metres tall, a battery energy storage system, anemometry mast, associated infrastructure, access tracks and drainage would cover over 2,000 acres at Ditcher Law near Oxton in the Borders. The area is designated as a Special Landscape Area, with peatland, woodland, meandering burns and moorland.
Rory Steel, chair of Lauderdale Preservation Group, said: “This is a seriously flawed decision which is of grave concern to people in Lauderdale and right across the Borders. This development is totally in the wrong place, is a threat to wildlife and even worse – it is unnecessary. Scotland’s current and future energy demand has already been met – even looking ahead to 2050 there is already excess power generation in Scotland. We must call to a halt to this industrialisation of our countryside, until there is a proper strategy in place for new energy developments.”
The decision published today states that Scottish Ministers received approximately 66 representations regarding the development, including three responses in support of the application and 63 responses against.