Caithness protest group heartened by public response over 'mega' pylons
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“Mega” electricity pylons passing through south-east Caithness would be almost three times as tall as the area's most prominent building, Dunbeath Castle.
Concerns over the controversial plans led to a public meeting being called in Dunbeath this week attended by more than 100 members of the public.
The audience heard detailed presentations by two representatives of Highland-based campaign group Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC), Lyndsey Ward and Denise Davis.
They spoke out against SSEN Transmission's proposed 400kV line between Spittal in Caithness, Loch Buidhe in Sutherland and Beauly in Inverness-shire, including new substations at each location.
Opposition locally is being led by Dunbeath/Berriedale Community Say NO to Pylons, under the umbrella of Berriedale and Dunbeath Community Council.
Illustrations on display at Tuesday's meeting in Dunbeath community hall showed that the new "mega" pylons would reach a height of 58 metres – more than twice as tall as the current ones, and nearly three times as high as Dunbeath Castle.
SSEN Transmission will be invited to attend a follow-up meeting in the coming weeks to answer questions and hear local opinions.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, community council chairman Angus MacInnes said: “We had well over 100, which is very encouraging for a small community like Berriedale and Dunbeath.
“I'm heartened by the number of people that are here, by the interest and by the passion, and we look forward to meeting with SSEN as soon as possible.
“You can stand at the door here and you'll see the existing pylon line. The proposed pylon line runs through the same corridor and it will be more than twice as tall.
“Dunbeath Castle is 20m, these [existing] pylons are 28m, the new pylons are 58m – but they'll not be removing the old pylons. They're going to leave the old ones, put the new ones in, and there is a concern that this may be the first of a number of sets of new pylons.”
SSEN Transmission has said the project is "part of a GB-wide programme of works that are required to meet UK and Scottish Government 2030 renewable targets".
- More to follow on Dunbeath public meeting
