Seven days have been set aside next month for a public inquiry into a proposed wind farm near Jedburgh.

The company involved is Windjen Power Ltd, which earlier this year had lodged an appeal against the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) refusal of its application to erect 8 X 101 meter high wind turbines on Black Law, near Dunion Hill. The council rejected the proposals last year after planning officials advised that the landscape in the area was not suitable for the turbines.

As indicated earlier, the public inquiry will start on 20 January. It will be heard by a Scottish Government reporter who will then make a recommendation to Scottish ministers, reported news.bbc.co.uk.

The Scottish Government rejected any suggestion that there was an agenda in favour of wind farm developments.

A spokesman said: "Any suggestions that the reporter in question has never found in favour of a planning authority are incorrect. In any event, all reporters - irrespective of the application before them - make decisions and recommendations to ministers based on the evidence in front of them."

According to Dunion Hill Conservation Group, every application, or scoping opinion has been lodged by a different company (last year the SBC confirmed that it had 26 applications, or scoping opinions, for planning permission for wind farms in our area, including Dunion Hill and Black Law), and if all these applications are granted, "the visual impact will be horrendous and the Borders countryside will be irrevocably changed for the worse".