Garve, Marybank, Scatwell and Strathconon, Strathpeffer and Contin community councils feel ‘let down’ by representatives over SSEN powerline campaign
ROSS-SHIRE campaigners challenging the massive £1.1bn expansion of overheard powerlines across the county have been left feeling “deserted and ignored” - and let down by their elected representatives.
Community councils in Garve, Marybank, Scatwell and Strathconon, Strathpeffer and Contin have called on the Scottish Government to tell SSEN to “reset and restart their consultation process” over a 400kv overhead line from Spittal to Beauly.
They want affected communities to be part of a meaningful co-design process and documentation that backs up their preferred option and to revisit the possibility of a buried DC line.
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Dr John Heathcote secretary of Contin Community Council, believes no consideration has been given to the fact that people will have to live with the transmission lines “for many decades to come”.
MSPs have been issued a no-nonsense joint statement agreed by the community councils. It bluntly states: “The lack of support we have seen from our elected members has left the communities feeling deserted and ignored. We believe our elected members should be speaking up on our behalf. Members of our communities are worried, stressed and no longer trust SSEN.”
They say: “We recognise the threat that climate change means to our planet and we support the need to move away from fossil fuels. However, we do not believe that this threat provides the electricity industry with the right to ride roughshod over the wishes of these communities. Our economy relies heavily on the beauty and wild nature of our countryside to drive tourism.”
And they add: “Little consideration, if any, seems to be being given to the impact on our communities and our economy. We call on our elected members to represent the concerns and views of our communities.”
They want SSEN to drop the “decide and defend” approach to their proposals and to adopt assessment criteria which consider the real impact on communities, stating: “We will be living with the consequences of this lack of action on the part of SSEN and the wider industry for a generation.”
Campaigners insist that cost is clearly the overriding issue for SSEN but that does not stack up when considering an impact that could be devastating.
Mr Heatcote said: “Our constituency MSP, Maree Todd, considered herself barred from speaking on our behalf, since she is a government minister, although she did meet some of us who had travelled down to Edinburgh for the debate. We feel disenfranchised, without a voice.”
He said blaming Westminster doesn’t cut it as SSEN's applications will be made by Scottish Ministers, in the context of Scottish planning guidance.
MSP Maree Todd said: “Grid infrastructure is reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government's role is limited to the statutory planning consenting process and does not extend to determining appropriate engineering solutions – that falls under UK regulation.
“However, I fully recognise the depth of concern within communities in my constituency regarding these proposals. It's clear that many feel unheard, and there exists a level of mistrust in the process. This needs to be addressed.
“There were some positive outcomes from Thursday’s debate. The Minister for Energy, Gillian Martin made an offer to work with everyone to make sure that communities have a more meaningful and mandated engagement. This is something I strongly support. Communities must have their say and be able to engage early in the process, particularly when engineering options are still being considered.
“It also provided an opportunity for the Scottish Government to set out their expectations from SSEN and air how the impacted communities across Scotland are feeling towards the process.
“I am committed to working with communities, the UK and Scottish Government, regulators and developers to ensure we get this right.”
An SSEN Transmission spokesperson said: “To help deliver UK and Scottish Government energy security and net zero targets, we have been tasked with delivering a series of critical national electricity transmission infrastructure projects across our operating area in the north of Scotland, which are part of a wider upgrade of the transmission network across Great Britain. These investments are key to deliver against our national endeavour for a cleaner, more secure and affordable energy system for future generations.
“We recognise the strength of feeling amongst some local communities, and as a stakeholder-led business, community consultation is a crucial part of our project development process. For the Spittal-Beauly 400kV project, we continue to consult extensively with impacted local communities and we’re continuing to analyse the viability of alternative alignments around the Strathpeffer and Tarvie areas that were suggested in feedback from the Strathpeffer community in 2023.
“We would like to thank everyone who has kindly taken the time to attend any of our consultation events so far, and those who have provided written feedback.
“We’re continuing to assess all feedback received, which will be carefully considered to help inform the ongoing development of our projects, and a further update will be provided in advance of our next overhead line alignment consultations, which will take place this summer, before we aim to submit planning applications later this year.”
