TNEI provided Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) co-ordination, project management, planning and environmental services and support to Wilson Renewables IV for an application for Planning Permission for Hawkwood Wind Farm, a 5-turbine onshore wind development. Hawkwood Wind Farm is located within an area of open moorland 6km southwest of Strathaven, South Lanarkshire and has a proposed total generating capacity of up to 33 MW (comprising 5 no. 6.6 MW wind turbines of up to 250 m to blade tip). The application was submitted via the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and due to the nature and scale of the development, an EIA was required to be submitted as part of the application.
TNEI’s appointment on Hawkwood Wind Farm followed previous work where TNEI delivered Bankend Rig II (a 3-turbine extension to Bankend Rig Wind Farm (an 11-turbine scheme that was energised in 2013)), and coincided with a similar appointment on Bankend Rig III Wind Farm (a 10-turbine scheme located directly east of Bankend Rig Wind Farm).
TNEI undertook the roles of consultant Project Manager, EIA Co-ordinator and Planning Lead for the Hawkwood Wind Farm project, fulfilled the role of Technical Specialist for various technical disciplines – including noise and socio-economics (which involved surveys and assessments and, where necessary, authoring the relevant stand-alone technical chapters for inclusion in the EIA Report), and provided Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and mapping support for the application, including the production of supporting figures, plans and technical drawings.
TNEI provided strategic planning advice to the client and the project team throughout the duration of the project and supported Wilson Renewables IV in undertaking consultation with the local community and other relevant stakeholders.
TNEI also managed and organised meetings with various statutory consultees and key stakeholders including South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) as the relevant Local Planning Authority and NatureScot, HES and Scottish Forestry. TNEI led the design meetings and facilitated the evolution of the scheme to balance conflicting constraints and considerations from all the different disciplines, including providing input into the development’s design to help ensure that it was acceptable in planning terms.
TNEI subsequently compiled the EIA (managing the team of sub-consultants (including inter alia landscape architects, ecologists and ornithologists, acousticians, hydrologists) and authored various front and back-end chapters of the EIA Report (including the Description of the Proposed Development chapter, the Approach to Preparing the EIA chapter and the detailed Planning and Energy Policy Chapter). TNEI also authored the Planning Statement, the Design and Access Statement and the Pre-application Consultation Report, which were submitted to support the application.
TNEI then compiled the application documents and submitted the application to SLC in December 2024.
After the application was submitted, TNEI monitored the application through to the point of determination and tracked responses to the application submitted by statutory and non-statutory consultees and members of the public, as and when required. TNEI also liaised with South Lanarkshire Council in order to address consultee comments, where necessary (including from the likes of SEPA).
Planning Permission was granted by SLC for Hawkwood Wind Farm on 12th May 2026.
