PCC Logo

Community Council

of the Royal Burgh of Peebles & District

PCC Logo

Community Council

of the Royal Burgh of Peebles & District

PCC Logo

Who we are

Peebles and District Community Council (PCC) is governed by our constitution and standing orders. PCC was established under the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) Scheme for Community Councils (which contains SBC's Code of Conduct for Community Councillors).

We are local people with an interest in our community. Our 18 members may serve for up to 3 years before standing for re-election. We regularly co-opt members for their skills and to fill vacancies.

The six elected Scottish Borders Councillors from East and West Tweeddale are `ex-officio' (non-voting) members who provide a valuable link to and from SBC.

When & where we meet

Ordinary Meetings of the Council are held on the Second Thursday of each month in the Burgh Hall, Peebles. These meetings normally start at 7:00pm and continue until approximately 9:00 pm.

Our meetings are publicised in the Peeblesshire News the week before the meeting with any changes to time and venue advertised.

Minutes and reports

Minutes and reports from the chair, planning convenor and police are available in Documents.

There is also a copy of the minutes and agenda displayed on the Community Council Noticeboard each month. The board is situated on the right of the archway leading to the Chambers Institution and Quadrangle. A further copy is located in the library. Please ask the librarian for the Community Council folder.

Next ordinary meeting

7pm Thursday 12th September 2024 – Agenda

Come along

All meetings are open to the public.

Each meeting allows 10 minutes for a Question and Answer session for members of the public to ask a question on any subject of relevance to the community council.

Grants

The RWE Bowbeat Wind Farm (Peebles & Eddleston) Community Fund is now open to applications for community projects benefiting those living in the Peebles & Eddleston Community Council areas.

PCC's micro grants scheme has £5000 per year for small grants (up to £400 for individuals or £1000 for groups) for small projects providing community benefit to the Council area which don't qualify for the main scheme. See guidance and download an application .pdf (or MS Word).

Citizen Space – Consultations

Contribute your views on open consultations and find out what changed in response to previous consultations for SBC Citizen Space and Scottish Government consultations. On each site you can scroll down to "see all open consultations".

According to Scottish Government figures, Scotland generated 75% more electricity from renewables alone in 2024 than it consumed. Including nuclear and pumped storage, Scotland produced 118% more low-carbon electricity than it consumed. With twice as much low-carbon electricity than we need, can Scotland declare its net zero transition a success?

As our MSP, Callum Kerr, pointed out, while the UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) is producing a UK-wide spatial plan, Scotland doesn’t have its own national energy strategy, with energy policy reserved to Westminster. Without a plan and following the sell-off of UK electricity transmission and distribution that began in the 90s, our energy market’s future is in the hands of private capital. Market forces and private companies decide where renewable generation is created and the grid follows.

Scotland’s current renewable energy generation capacity is 17.8 GW. There is another 83.0 GW in Scotland’s planning pipeline (almost 5 times current capacity) at last count containing 1174 renewable energy projects.

According to Borders Wind Farm Watch, there are already 616 turbines in 23 significant operational schemes within the Scottish Borders. With a capacity of 1.4GW, this is slightly less than 8% of current national renewable capacity. Their worry, however, is that with three schemes in construction and over 20 schemes in planning, the Borders landscape is being unnecessarily industrialised.

SBC Renewable Energy Map as at March 2026. SBC Renewable Energy Map as at March 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Further problems cited include impact on eagles, traffic congestion during turbine delivery and a track record of paying community benefits around half of what they should have been.

There are other perfectly foreseeable problems resulting from a legacy of underinvestment in our privatised electricity transmission network (i.e. pylons stretching across our hills). On windy days, Scottish wind farms generate more electricity than the network can export. So, wind farms are paid to switch turbines off – often followed by gas turbines being switched on to compensate for demand in the South. This is called curtailment and, according to Renewables Now, in the first half of 2025 more than 4 TWh of wind power was turned down in northern Scotland at a cost of almost £117 million.

The UK government and NESO say these problems are being fixed. NESO announced in December 2025

“Today we confirmed a new pipeline of deliverable, shovel-ready energy projects that will be prioritised for connection to the electricity networks, unlocking £40 billion in clean investment annually and driving progress towards the government’s Clean Power by 2030 target.”

According to UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

“We inherited a broken system where zombie projects were allowed to hold up grid connections for viable projects that will bring investment, jobs and economic growth."

"To fix this we embarked on ambitious, once in a generation reforms to clean up the queue and prioritise the projects that are ready to help us deliver clean power by 2030.”

"Every solar farm, wind farm or battery storage facility we connect to the electricity grid brings us closer to clean, homegrown, power that we control – so we can get bills down for good."

Previously NESO “Beyond 2030” called for £58bn to fix the grid by 2035.

In the meantime, Scotland and the Borders will be increasingly exposed to applications for Battery Energy Storage Systems and data centres near wind farms to avoid grid constraints. The dozen data centres in planning in Scotland would use 150% more than Scotland’s peak winter power use.

Opponents described plans for a £2bn, 80ft high data centre near villages west of Duns as a “monster” that would drain “the life and beauty from the landscape.”

There are tough democratic challenges ahead for opponents of this £200bn+ of investment. Edinburgh Councillors considering a moratorium on so-called “green” data centres, were advised against by planners who say Scottish law requires that anyone can submit planning applications (regardless of land ownership), which must be decided within strict timeframes, and that a moratorium would likely just lead to successful appeals and possible expenses.

In March 2026, SG published its AI Strategy for Scotland setting out their vision “to secure the benefits of AI for everyone in Scotland”, signalling increased investment in AI underpinned by renewable energy.

The explosion of AI and the digital experiences of modern life are driving a surge of demand that appears to be on a collision course with the Scottish Borders. Perhaps the full cost of doom scrolling is much bigger than it appears.

Dr Michael Marshall
Planning Convenor
Peebles & District Community Council

As always: support or comment to Anne Snoddy (Secretary PCC)

Articles/20260700.html

Invitation to online info session 7pm 7 July 2026 Online info session 7pm 7 July.

Scottish Borders Council and River Tweed Trail

We would like to invite local residents and stakeholders to learn about the proposed upgrades to paths in your area linking in with the wider River Tweed Trail Project, which are due to be submitted for planning approval.

Join us to

  • View the proposed path improvements
  • Understand the benefits for walking, wheeling, cycling, and accessibility
  • Ask questions and share your feedback
  • Speak directly with the project team

Event details

Article feedback secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk

News/20260625.html

Thank you to the member of the public who emailed us on 27 May 2026 telling us they were asked to leave Kingsmeadows House and saying that they have been receiving very conflicting advice about:

  1. whether it is private property,
  2. if it belongs to the residents or the developers,
  3. the right to roam in Scotland [as applies at Kingsmeadows]

and asking Peebles Community Council to clarify. PCC has been working to protect the woodlands and public access at Kingsmeadows for over a decade and we believe it would be in the public interest for us to share our opinion, set out below.

Overview

As we understand it today, the short answers to your questions are:

  1. All of the land behind the wall at Kingsmeadows is private property.
  2. All of the land behind the wall at Kingsmeadows (except for The Lodge House) is owned by Granton Homes Ltd SC477370 on title PBL5914 (and PBL6298).
  3. The public have the right to roam in the East and West Woods, but not elsewhere.

Map of Kingsmeadows with approximate boundaries of East and West woods indicated in blue Map of Kingsmeadows with approximate boundaries of East and West woods indicated in blue. Copies of PBL5914 (with relevant maps) can be purchased from the Land Information Service for £3.60. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Current visitors will see that Granton have closed the woodlands (without explanation[1]). While the woodlands are temporarily closed, there is no public access at Kingsmeadows.

Why can’t I walk in the gardens or along the riverfront?

In January 2016, before Granton sold homes in Kingsmeadows to residents for £3.7m, they added legally binding assurances to the property titles that defined most of the middle third of the estate as a private garden. Private gardens are exempt from the right to roam under Section 6 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act (the Act).

Peebles Community Council / Trust and Access Officers requested in 2015 and 2019 that a public path be established along the riverbank in front of Kingsmeadows House – but that did not happen (and only received one public comment of support). A barbed wire fence was also added along the Eastern boundary, blocking access between Kingsmeadows and Cavalry Park (possibly around 2018).

Discussions with the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society (ScotWays) in 2022 and Access Officers in 2022 and 2024 about the middle-third of the estate showed no records of public paths and indicated that the right to roam didn’t apply.

PCC is double-checking with ScotWays and Access Officers

We are aware of recent discussions on Facebook and PCC is again taking advice from ScotWays and Access Officers to double-check:

  • Whether the right to roam applies to any of the middle third of the estate;
  • Whether anything can be done about the barbed wire fence; and
  • Whether necessary consents can be gained to establish a public path on the river.

As always, we encourage members of the public to share relevant information with SBC Access Officers. You can also tell PCC your views in person at the Burgh Hall, 7pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month or via email secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk.

Granton originally implied the public would be locked out of the entire estate

On 14 Sep 2015 Peebles Community Council / Trust objected to Granton Homes’ plans and the implication the entire Kingsmeadows estate would become a gated community:

"The sales particulars for the apartments and flats imply that the grounds would be maintained for the sole use of the residents: 'Outside all residents will have access to the private grounds. The main gates will be automated and the entrance to the grounds and mansion house will be controlled by an entry system."

"We wish to draw attention to the contents of "Scottish Outdoor Access Code - Public access to Scotland's outdoors, 2005, which clearly states that such wooded policies of houses must be accessible for the enjoyment of all members of the public. Since these woodlands are well outwith the curtilage of the residences we would contend that they cannot be kept as private grounds."

These comments (and stronger comments from Access Officers) met with success, with the gates at Kingsmeadows remaining open for access to the West woods to this day.

In our opinion, to preserve access, we need to protect the woodland from development

If woodland is lost for housing, that woodland won’t exist for the public to access any more.

Despite publicly stating that they had no plans to build on the woodland (e.g. Peeblesshire News 27 Nov 2014 and 18 July 2015) in 2020 Granton Homes applied to build seven, 5-bedroom homes on the East Woods. After 40 objections, including from Peebles Community Council, Granton withdrew their application after planners advised:

"The proposed development would see a significant number of trees removed from the site, the removal of which has not been justified … The proposal has significant issues which means that it cannot be supported."

Since then, Granton Homes has had three further planning applications refused because of unacceptable impact on the woodlands at Kingsmeadows:

  • 2022 refusal by SBC because “the proposal would result in the loss of trees over and above what was accepted in the planning permission in principle.”
  • 2024 refusal by SBC because “the proposed development would result in loss of an existing woodland resource.”
  • 2025 refusal by SBC because the proposal “would have an adverse impact on the woodland setting of Kingsmeadows House.”

Granton still have one planning application for Kingsmeadows yet to be decided by SBC.

We urge everyone to unite behind the campaign to bring the Kingsmeadows woodlands into community ownership so they can be preserved, for all to enjoy, in perpetuity.

Article feedback secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk

[1] There appears to be no public statement of why the woodlands are closed, though likely it follows postponement of tree works Granton had planned for 1–5 June 2026 until after nesting season.

"I have been in touch with Kingsmeadows today; the proposed work is the controlled removal of windthrown trees and in the interests of safety. Therefore, as dangerous and/or dead exempt from application. However, I also discussed this type of tree work with ecological considerations and timings, following the contact they have agreed not undertake the work week commencing 1st June nor within the current nesting season."

"Nesting season is end of August, any work out with that date. [SBC]

PCC has raised a freedom of information request to obtain information on the proposed works.

News/20260606.html

With an offer on the table for a community benefit fund for Leithenwater Wind Farm, we want to hear from you.

Scottish Government recommends onshore wind farms pay communities £5000 per MW per year in community benefits.

Based on this rate, the amount Belltown Power offered to the communities of Eddleston, Innerleithen and Peebles starts at £420,000 a year.

But what about inflation?

Have you felt the impact of rising costs in recent years?

Recently, Scottish Government consulted on raising the recommended figure to £6000 per MW.

But the government's £5000 per MW figure has not changed since it was first set in 2014, with the result that £6000 is actually a below-inflation rise.

Did you know that the Scottish Coalition on Community Energy is calling community benefits at a minimum of £7500 per MW?

What do you make of all this? We want to hear from you as we negotiate for the next 30 years.

Learn more.
Have your say

To complete the survey click here

Closes 5pm Mon 22 June 2026

Peebles Community Council and Peebles Town Team.

Article feedback secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk

News/20260514.html

The Community Council received a presentation from James Renwick, Development Project Manager and Amanda Miller, Director of Community Services of Eildon Housing regarding the Caledonian Court development in Peebles (formerly Tweedbridge Court).

The proposed development comprises 22 new homes across two blocks, including a mix of three-bedroom lower colony houses and two-bedroom upper flats. The scheme will incorporate energy efficient features such as air source heat pumps and electric heating, alongside EV charging provision and cycle storage to support local initiatives.

Members were advised that construction is progressing well and is expected to be completed in September 2026, with a community open day planned prior to tenant occupation.

Members also heard details of the proposed allocation arrangements, which will be managed through a Local Lettings Plan prioritising applicants with a connection to the Tweedale (Peebles High School catchment) area. The allocation split will include provision for applicants with critical housing need, existing Eildon tenants requiring to move, and those with lower priority needs such as overcrowding or downsizing. It was noted that demand for housing locally remains high.

Although technical issues prevented the slides from being displayed at the meeting, the representatives delivered the presentation verbally and responded to questions.

Download slides

Article feedback secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk

News/20260514a.html

We pleased to inform you that the new RWE Bowbeat Wind Farm (Peebles & Eddleston) Community Fund is now open to applications. This Fund supports community projects benefiting those living in the Peebles & Eddleston Community Council areas. It is provided by RWE Renewables UK Operations Limited, the owner of RWE Bowbeat Wind Farm, with £104,000 ringfenced in year 1 (and rising with inflation each subsequent year) to provide a fund for the benefit of residents.

The Fund supports priorities developed in line with themes identified in the 2024-2034 Peebles Town Action Plan. The Fund will support charitable activities that achieve one or more of the following priorities:

  • Enhance the quality of life for local residents.
  • Contribute to a vibrant, healthy, successful and sustainable community.
  • Promote community spirit and encourage community activity.
  • Tackle climate change at a local level.

New fund open for applications

Full details of the Fund Criteria including conditions and who can apply will be made public once the Fund is open to applications, but in summary:

  • The Fund comprises 2 Rounds of applications in Year 1, with 3 Rounds planned in subsequent years.
  • The deadline for the first Round of Applications will be 28 June 2026, with decision outcomes regarding awards planned for August 2026.
  • Decisions will be made by a group of local residents that make up the local decision-making Panel.
  • Fund Grant sizes range from £1,000-£10,000 (and up to £50,000 in exceptional circumstances).

For further details about the Fund including how to apply, please refer to the Fund Page

Panel members needed

Become a Panel Member - Foundation Scotland is also seeking volunteer Panel members from Eddlestone and Peebles & District Community Council Areas. If you would like to apply for a position or to find out more, then please complete this short form

Panel members wanted Panel members wanted

If you have any other queries about the Fund or becoming a Panel member, please contact Johnny McFadzean at Foundation Scotland (more contact details on the Fund Page).

News/20260318.html

Peebles

With flooding and wind farms in the news, we're sharing the latest climate and biodiversity updates.

SEPA's latest climate change allowances for flood risk assessment land use planning sets 59% as the climate change allowance for Flood Risk Assessments for developments on the Tweed Catchment. New developments must be outwith the flood area not just of the largest flood on record, but outwith the flood area modelling an additional 59% flow on top of the historic peak.

SEPA's guidance is based on the latest Climate change trends and projections from Adaptation Scotland, using climate modelling from the Met Office and others.

Met office prediction for warming in Peebles 1. Peebles warming (Met Office)

UK Climate Projections (UKCP) for Peebles are shown in fig 1.

UKCP data are relative to 1990, so if we want to compare Met Office predictions against the 2015 Paris Agreement ambition to hold global warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, we need to add around 0.6°C (Paris Agreement FAQ pg 8)

Paris Agreement FAQ How close are we to 1.5°C 2. Paris Agreement FAQ How close are we to 1.5°C?

United Kingdom

UK facts & figures

The UK emits 0.83% of global energy related CO2 emmissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

"On a historical scale, the UK is in the top ten for cumulative emissions since the nineteenth century, reflecting its early industrialisation." [Carbon Copy]

13.58% of the UK's final energy consumption comes from modern renewables, ranking the UK 75th globally – behind countries such as Congo, Tanzania, Honduras, El Salvador, Mozambique, Ecuador, Peru, India, Bulgaria, Sudan and Eswatini [source IEA].

"In 2024 alone, China added 277 GW of solar power and 80 GW of wind, in contrast to 2.7 GW of total renewable capacity added in the UK" [Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies].

DEFRA's warning

On 20 Jan 2026, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs published their National security assessment on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security.

The report makes sobering reading, offering 7 key judgments:

1. Global ecosystem degradation and collapse threaten UK national security and prosperity (high confidence).

2. Cascading risks of ecosystem degradation are likely to include geopolitical instability, economic insecurity, conflict, migration and increased inter-state competition for resources (moderate confidence).

3. Critical ecosystems that support major global food production areas and impact global climate, water and weather cycles are the most important for UK national security (high confidence).

4. Ecosystem degradation is occurring across all regions. Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse (high confidence).

5. There is a realistic possibility that some ecosystems (such as coral reefs in South East Asia and boreal forests) start to collapse from 2030, and others (rainforests and mangroves) start to collapse from 2050 (low confidence).

6. All countries are exposed to the risks of ecosystem collapse within and beyond their borders (moderate confidence).

7. Without significant increases in UK food system and supply chain resilience, it is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food (moderate confidence).

Read DEFRA's full National security assessment

Global

"WMO’s State of the Global Climate report 2025 confirms that 2015-2025 are the hottest 11-years on record, and that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record, at about 1.43 °C above the 1850-1900 average." World Meteorological Organization State of the Global Climate 2025 23 Mar 2026.

Is it too late to keep global warming below 1.5°C? The challenge in 7 charts

Nature, 21 Nov 2023.

This immersive special feature visually explains the current state of the climate crisis.

"Chances are rapidly disappearing to limit Earth’s temperature rise to the globally agreed mark, but researchers say there are some positive signs of progress."

"At first glance, it seems that nations have no chance of meeting the Paris agreement’s headline goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. The rate of warming has picked up over the past decade, and the average global temperature for 2023 is likely to be 1.4°C above the average for 1850–1900."

Exceptional Warming Spike in 2023–24, source Berkeley Earth 1. Exceptional Warming Spike in 2023–24 (Berkeley Earth)

Read Nature's full Article and this Feb 2026 article on renewables

Exceeding 1.5°C requires rethinking accountability in climate policy

Nature comment, 26 Jan 2026.

"In 2024, global average temperatures exceeded 1.5°C for the first time. Going above 1.5°C in one year does not mean that the Paris threshold itself is technically breached — it is defined as an average over at least 20 years to account for year-to-year variations — but it indicates that the world is on track to pass it in a decade or less.

In July, an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice firmly anchored 1.5°C as the primary limit of the Paris agreement, reducing ambiguity over its aim. Although severe negative effects of climate change materialize below 1.5°C, this limit demarcates the minimum threshold of dangerous human interference that governments agreed as unacceptable.

In an ‘overshoot’ world – one in which global warming exceeds 1.5°C but is later brought back below this limit – countries’ obligations to meet this temperature limit remain. However, the pursuit of the 1.5°C limit from above poses further challenges.

Countries will need to commit not only to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions, but also to achieve and sustain net-negative emissions — by removing billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it. They will need to confront the further loss and damage and the adaptation needs that arise as a result of exceeding the 1.5 °C limit. And governments need to ask why they failed to prevent dangerous human interference, and who is responsible."

Read Nature's full Article

Bending the curve of terrestrial biodiversity needs an integrated strategy

Nature, 10 Sep 2020.

statistics:The next 30 years will prove pivotal for Earth’s biodiversity 2. DEFRA assessment figure pg 5

This article explains the image on page 5 of DEFRA's security assessment.

"Increased efforts are required to prevent further losses to terrestrial biodiversity and the ecosystem services that it provides. Ambitious targets have been proposed, such as reversing the declining trends in biodiversity; however, just feeding the growing human population will make this a challenge. Here we use an ensemble of land-use and biodiversity models to assess whether—and how—humanity can reverse the declines in terrestrial biodiversity caused by habitat conversion, which is a major threat to biodiversity."

Figure 1e shows estimates of "the global number of species not already extinct or committed to extinction (measured using the fraction of globally remaining species metric)."

Read the full article courtesy of the International Institute for Sustainability

Or watch this Astrum Earth video

Article feedback secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk

News/20260130.html

26 Jan 2026

Belltown Power say their community offering is industry-leading

Belltown Power have written to the communities of Peebles, Eddleston and Innerleithen explaining why they rejected all three requests PCC put to Belltown Power in April 2025.

"Dear Community Councils,

As discussed in the latest meeting of the Leithenwater Wind Energy Hub Community Liaison Group, held on the 14th of January 2026, please find below a clarification of Belltown Power’s community offering. I hope this helps explain why we feel the community offering is industry-leading and represents a real benefit to the local community. Our FAQs on community benefit and community ownership are also provided to answer any broader questions.

Community Benefit

Belltown Power offers a community benefit fund of £5000 per MW of installed capacity per year in line with Scottish Government guidance as published in 2019[1]. With the current proposal of 13 turbines, assuming 6.6MW per turbine, the fund would be £420,000 per year. This figure is index-linked to CPI so it will increase with inflation. The base date of indexation will be the commercial operation date of Leithenwater Wind Energy Hub, i.e. the date of first generation[2]. This is how the standard guidance is generally employed by the wind industry in Scotland[3]. We are also highly motivated to get the project operating and subsequently get the community benefit payments flowing as soon as possible, since commercial operation will provide the first project revenues. In reality, since 2019, project economics have become more challenging due to significant rises in equipment cost. Despite this, we (along with most other developers) have retained our previously stated commitments to be at the suggested level of £5000 per MW per year.

Community Ownership

Belltown goes well above and beyond the industry benchmark through our generous community ownership offer, which donates 1% of the project to the community at no cost and offers a further 4% at cost once operational (which should be well below the true market value of the share at that point). The ultimate value of the 1% donation and the 4% at cost will depend on several inputs ranging from technical (wind speed, final turbine candidate, total capital expenditure) to financial influences (power price, inflation, CfD pricing, etc.). Indicatively, it could have a value of several thousand pounds per MW. Once the project is further developed, we will be able to share more detailed and accurate information regarding the community ownership offering. Belltown expect to support the community in sourcing and delivering the financing required to acquire the 4% cost if the community chooses to subscribe to that portion of the offer.

Yours sincerely,

Benjamin Thorne
Development Manager for Leithenwater Wind Energy Hub"

Read Belltown Power's letter

PCC Footnotes

[1] Page 5 of the guidance says:

"We will continue at a national level to promote community benefits of the value equivalent to £5000 per installed megawatt per annum, index linked for the operational lifetime of the project."

[2] Belltown Power do not expect Leithenwater to start generation before 2030. Legal advice to our three Community Councils says that accounting for the time period between 2019, and the first anniversary of commercial operation, it would be prudent to request that this £5,000 per MW figure be index linked using 2019 as the base date. Broadly speaking, this would allow for the £5,000 per MW to be adjusted for inflation between 2019 and the relevant date of payment (rather than solely adjusted for inflation between payment dates after the commercial operation date).

[3] Index linking (i.e. taking inflation into account) a payment of £5000 in Dec 2025 would only have been worth £3540 in May 2019. This is already a reduction of 30% – and the later Leithenwater wind farm starts, the less Belltown Power's offer is worth.

If this is standard practice within the wind industry, communities receive less money in real terms (after inflation) the later wind farms start.

Peebles Community Council's three requests in April 2025

On the 19th of April 2025, PCC wrote to Belltown Power responding to their community benefit offering. We asked for the following changes to the memorandum of understanding (MOU):

  1. In accordance with legal advice taken collectively by Eddleston, Innerleithen and Peebles Community Councils, we asked that the base date for inflation indexing specified in the Scottish Government Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Benefits be specified as 8 May 2019 (the day the guidance was last issued).
  2. With Scottish government consultations in progress for Community benefits from net zero energy developments, and the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy calling for community benefits of 5% of revenue from on-shore wind farms with a minimum of £7300 per MW per annum – substantially above Belltown Power's offering – we asked that signing these MOUs now should not lock our communities into the current, lower rate, preventing us benefitting from any increases resulting from consultations (see News 13 Mar 2025).
  3. We asked for administrative costs to be paid by Belltown Power – not Community Benefit funds.

Belltown Power rejected all three proposed changes.

Read our 19 Apr 2025 letter

Please send your feedback on Belltown Power's offer to secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk or tell us in person at the PCC Meeting 7pm Thu 12 Feb

News/20260126.html

This is the Planning Convenor's report of – and personal opinions on – the issues raised at the Sat 17 Jan 2026 South of Scotland Community Council convention on wind farms, for consideration by PCC at its next meeting, 7pm Thu 12 Feb 2026.

For background on the convention, see this BBC article.

Key takeaways

CCs feel overloaded & outgunned

  • Some CC’s have had up to 10 applications for wind farms or batteries (BESS) in their area
  • The workload for a CC to deal with one application is substantial (many large reports, written by multiple consultants)
  • The workload to deal with multiple applications is unsustainable
  • The same applications keep coming back until approved

NPF4 policy 11 Energy gives green light to wind farms & batteries

  • Renewable energy proposals outside National Parks and National Scenic areas will be approved
  • Long list of negative impacts are listed, but developers only need say how they will mitigate those
  • Significant weight must be given to renewable energy generation and greenhouse gas targets

Current trajectory

  • Many wind farms and overhead lines across Borders
  • With only small concessions to protect landscape and biodiversity
  • Calls for increased community benefits (for an update on Leithenwater wind farm see News/20260126.html)

Key ask

Does PCC wish to sign the Unified Statement (changing “Highlands" to reflect wider geography) and join a Scotland-wide Community Council movement to push back against the impact of unplanned and disproportionate renewable energy infrastructure?

Read the 22 Jan 2026 summary from the convention organisers.

Read the 5 Feb 2026 Q&A between Peebles and the convention organisers.

Planning Convenor's comments

There was a call for a (non-binding) show of support and I indicated Peebles' likely support

  • Items 2 & 3 obviously needed
  • Moratorium (item 4) would only cause delay if much needed strategy is missing.
  • Item 1 is less clear. Wording is agreeable by all – but PCC must decide whether renewable energy rollout is "unjust and unnecessary industrialisation" in light of the climate and biodiversity emergencies.

See News/20260130.html for an update on the Government's latest warnings on climate and biodiversity.

There is a plan for renewable energy infrastructure rollout from the National Energy System Operator (NESO). Current plans show much more renewable energy being delivered than the UK needs – despite a recent review by NESO. This plan might be unstoppable given the cost, lead time and societal need to transition to renewable energy.

There have also been calls to use the convention to address the environmental damage done (and the money being funelled into private investors) by forestry, e.g. Stobo Hope and Todrig.

These problems can be seen as indicative of systemic inequality and wider failures of planning democracy.

Dr Michael Marshall
Planning Convenor

Please send your feedback to secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk or tell us in person at the PCC Meeting 7pm Thu 12 Feb 2026

News/20260122.html

Members of the public attending our 13 Nov meeting complained that SBC appeared not to be following important environmental regulations – potentially illegally – and asked us to raise a complaint with SBC.

This follows the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) recently writing to SBC expressing their view that approval of the Kingsmeadows applications without appropriate environmental assessment – as planners said they were minded to do – would be grounds for judicial review arising from breach of Habitats Regulations.

SBC declined to publish the correspondence with ERCS on the planning portal, despite a request to do so. Members of the public also asked PCC to repeat the request to publish the correspondence with ERCS.

We complained that

  • SBC appears to be failing legal duties to safeguard European Protected Species (EPS)
  • Failures appear to stem from a misunderstanding of the law
  • Legal advice from ERCS appears to be being ignored
  • Legal concerns haven't been published on the planning portal and remain unanswered
  • Regulations require proof of no impact to EPS – beyond scientific doubt, based on data
  • Yet planners say they are minded to decide without appropriate environmental assessment

We ask SBC to immediately

  • Reject these applications
  • Or pause them while the legal complaints are investigated.

Read our complaint to SBC here.

Add your complaint

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