On September 3, East Lothian Council called a meeting to debate the arguments for and against Belltown Power’s application to build a wind farm on the top of Newlands Hill.

Two representatives from Belltown Power spoke for their application; three local members of Lammermuir SOS – a campaigning group opposed to the application – and a spokeswoman for Dunpender Community Council spoke against the application.

The councillors listened, asked questions of both sides and then voted.

To our great relief, the council voted unanimously to oppose the application.

READ MORE: Developers 'disappointed' at council objection to wind farm

We would like to thank all the councillors for the time and trouble they took to read and assess the report produced by the East Lothian Council – a long but very well written document running to 119 pages (some of the councillors had taken the trouble to go and see the site the previous day).

Whether on account of the increased traffic on tiny roads, biodiversity or visual impact, it became obvious throughout the proceedings that all the councillors had independently come to their own conclusions.

The leader of the council summed it up by saying that the county of East Lothian, and the Lammermuir Hills in particular, had already made a heavy sacrifice for their contribution to avert climate change; 300 wind turbines are more than enough and, quite simply, this latest proposal is a step too far.

Councillors have a difficult path to tread. They can never please all of the people all of the time.

But in this case, collectively, they have sent a clear and powerful message to Holyrood and Westminster.

We want to say publicly how grateful we are to everyone who helped us over the past two years to inform the public; and to East Lothian Council in particular for their unanimous decision to oppose this application.

Caroline Straker, Jane Steven, Mark Mepham, Euan Harper, Mike Traynor and Andrew Hamilton