Events planned in Halkirk, Spittal and Dunbeath over pylon scheme
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Members of the public will be invited to share their thoughts on the controversial plans for new high-voltage pylons at a series of events in venues across the Highlands, including three in Caithness.
SSEN Transmission is hosting statutory pre-application consultation and public engagement sessions during May and June, looking at potential alignments following on from feedback received earlier in the year.
There are concerns in many communities about the proposals for a 400kV overhead line between Spittal, Loch Buidhe and Beauly, with substations at each location. If it goes ahead there will be about 167km of new pylons with an average height of 57 metres.
A statutory pre-application consultation event will be held at the Ross Institute in Halkirk on Monday, June 3, from 2pm to 7pm, relating to a substation at Banniskirk. Public engagement events are scheduled for Spittal Village Hall on Tuesday, June 4 (10am to noon), and Dunbeath Community Centre on Wednesday, June 5 (3pm to 7pm).
Several sessions are also planned in Sutherland – at Helmsdale (June 4), Rogart (June 6), Brora (also June 6) and Bonar Bridge (June 10).
The Spittal, Loch Buidhe and Beauly pylon line is one of four transmission infrastructure schemes that will help connect renewable energy around Britain, if approved. The projects form part of a programme of network reinforcements that are “crucial in delivering UK and Scottish government energy security and net-zero targets”, according to SSEN Transmission.
Thirty-six events are planned in all. They follow on from the latest round of consultation on SSEN Transmission’s Pathway to 2030 programme which took place in February and March this year.
Rob McDonald, managing director of SSEN Transmission, said: “Our £20bn programme will help unlock cleaner, more secure energy for homes and businesses for generations to come and is one of the biggest investment programmes that the north of Scotland has seen for decades.
“The upcoming round of public engagement and pre-application consultation events will be crucial in further informing the development of these critical national infrastructure projects in a way that balances the needs of all stakeholders, delivers a positive and lasting legacy, and unlocks the energy and economic potential of the north of Scotland.
“As a stakeholder-led business, the views shared at these events really matter and help to shape the development of our projects massively, as can be seen in the changes made to our proposals after the first two rounds of consultation in 2023 and earlier this year too.
“As ever, we’d really encourage anyone who has an interest in our projects to come along, find out about our plans and share their thoughts.”
At a public meeting in January organised by Dunbeath/Berriedale Community Say NO to Pylons, a subgroup of Berriedale and Dunbeath Community Council, a delegation from SSEN Transmission heard that the proposed pylons will “destroy the Highland way of life” by industrialising the landscape.
It was claimed that people will be discouraged from living in the area, with one resident declaring: “What we desperately need in this area is repopulation, not depopulation.”
