AN extension to the Clyde wind farm situated between Biggar, Abington and Moffat could lead to more jobs in the Borders.

According to Kirstanne Land, Community Liaison Manager for Clyde Extension, the development is expected to boost direct and indirect employment in Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and the Scottish Borders. Over £20 million has also been set aside for community-based projects.

She said: “With construction starting at Clyde Extension wind farm, we are keen to continue an open dialogue with local people to manage any potential impact and disruption carefully. As a responsible developer, we are keen to use as many communication tools as possible to keep residents informed of project progress including community events, meetings, newsletters, web updates and a project twitter page @ClydeExtension.

“Throughout construction and operation, the Clyde extension project is expected to bring significant local benefits to the South Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway regions through direct and in-direct employment, skills training and over £20m of long-term support for community projects from the community benefit fund.” The build of the 54 turbine wind farm, which will be managed by principal contractors Balfour Beatty, is expected to take place over a two year period mobilising from the existing Clyde access A at Wandel, A702 within South Lanarkshire and via a secondary forestry access south of Tweedsmuir on the A701 within the Scottish Borders.

As part of ongoing community engagement plans, SSE Renewables has formed a community council liaison group with representatives from each community council.  The group will meet throughout the construction of the project and will focus on action strategy around any issues or concerns encountered by the local communities. The first meeting of the group took place on Thursday, July 17 and minutes will be publicly available through Clyde Extension’s mailing list and project website within the next two weeks: www.sse.com/clydeextension In addition, a family friendly community day will be held at the operations building of Clyde wind farm, situated at Access F on the B7076, towards the end of August to provide information about the development of Clyde and construction of the Clyde extension project and will include bus tours of the operational site.