Statement in response to the decision of South Lanarkshire Council’s planning committee to object to Bodinglee Wind Farm.

Richard Dunkley, CEO at OnPath Energy, said: “Bodinglee Wind Farm represents one of the most compellingly positive cases for onshore wind development in Scotland under current national planning policy. We are very disappointed with South Lanarkshire Council’s decision not to support it.  

This development has been shaped over several years in partnership with local communities. This inclusive approach has led to overwhelming local support for it from those who live closest to the site, with more than 300 letters of support and all six host community councils backing the plans. 

These are the voices of people who would live with the development day to day and who welcome the tangible benefits Bodinglee Wind Farm will deliver in terms of lower household energy costs through a new local energy company, investment in local amenities, and up to 10% shared community ownership. 

Bodinglee fits with best practice and is fully aligned with the key priorities outlined in National Planning Framework 4, which strongly supports renewable energy projects that maximise significant socio-economic benefits for local communities and deliver transformational benefits both locally and nationally.    

Every element of this project has been carefully designed to reflect feedback from statutory consultees and local communities. There are no other statutory consultee objections including from NatureScot, Historic Environment Scotland, or SEPA, which demonstrates the years of thoughtful design iterations and close consultation with these key environmental agencies. 

As families are grappling with energy costs Bodinglee represents a major step towards achieving net zero, at the lowest possible cost for consumers and is part of the UK Government’s commitment to delivering on Clean Power 2030.The rejection of this project risks undermining public confidence in the planning system’s ability to respond to both climate imperatives and economic pressures – especially when the evidence shows the project meets the criteria set out by national policy. 

The Energy Consents Unit (ECU) at Scottish government will now decide on the project based on the views of each of the consultees and determine the outcome with a balanced view, taking into consideration Scotland’s national policies and the merits of the application.  The Scottish government has robustly supported good renewable energy projects with energy and climate targets and through consents at the ECU – we are therefore confident that the project will ultimately gain consent at national level once these issues have been assessed in the round.”