Since time immemorial, people have found ways to harness the wind to carry us across the seas, grind grain, move water over a dyke, you name it. In the part of the world I grew up in, the ruins of windmills have become cherished landmarks of a long history of living with the wind.
Opinions about modern windfarms, though, are divided. Some see them as essential in moving us away from fossil fuels, others look at them as a blot on the landscape, difficult to manage and benefiting only those who have the capital to install them in the first place.
Emotions, as with many other large-scale ‘developments’ in the rural space, can run high and positions are often entrenched, leaving local authorities to navigate complex disagreements through tedious ‘social and environmental assessment’ processes.
Wendy Ball, founder of the Encouraged Conversations project, is not afraid to take such difficult conversations head-on. Her approach is to get each side to express their concerns through a set of questions to be put to the ‘other’ side. A conversation based around answering these questions is recorded with each side separately, allowing participants to speak frankly amongst friends. Once agreed, the recorded conversations are published on the project website.
A key part of an Encouraged Conversation is preserving the anonymity of the participants as this is important to the dynamics of the conversation. However, with the approval of my fellow participants and to inspire further discussion, I can reveal that when Wendy approached us to participate in such a ‘conversation’ about windfarms, we were keen to participate.
The process of putting together the questions for the ‘other side’ to respond to, reading and answering those that came from them and listening to the final recordings was a fascinating experience! You can see some highlights from the conversations for yourself here.
We were struck by how difficult it was to give clear answers in some cases – the issues are, after all, complex, hiding multiple layers of rationale, emotions, nostalgias, fears and other passions … The biggest surprise, though, was discovering how, time and time again, we found ourselves agreeing on one important point: that local communities often feel disempowered when decisions are made about ‘developments’ that shape the place where they live.
A finding that resonates strongly with a key purpose of A Greener Melrose: to support communities to create their own histories from their many possible futures, living in harmony with nature, daring to shape and own their own place, not waiting for others to do it for them.
And so, our conversation on windfarms left me feeling unexpectedly hopeful. Despite our differences, it showed that we can often find common ground and build from it. Both sides felt passionately about local communities taking responsibility for their own place and resources. A desire I find in other local initiatives, such as the recently launched Borders Food Hub by Abundant Borders and SOSE and the community owned heat and energy schemes that Selkirk Regeneration and the West Linton and Carlops Community Development Trust are developing. We, the people, can do this, if we put just believe in ourselves and the ‘powers that be’ trust us.
Yvan Biot, 6 August 2026
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