Our Press Release - 15th October 2024

Serious concerns are raised over Councillor Raymond Bremner’s conduct in Relation to SSEN Hub Opening and Planning Conflicts

Serious concerns have been raised by communities across the Highlands over the actions of the Leader of Highland Council,  Councillor Raymond Bremner, following his involvement in the recent opening of the new SSEN Hub in Inverness. A formal complaint (1) has been submitted to the Ethical Standards Commission by a member of Dunbeath/Berriedale Say No to Pylons Action Group questioning the appropriateness of Councillor Bremner’s presence at the event, given his role on the North Planning Area Committee.

It has been highlighted that Councillor Bremner has shared public platforms with SSE/SSEN over the past year, including in media appearances on YouTube. When considered with his critical position on the North Planning Applications Committee, this raises serious questions about potential conflicts of interest, particularly in light of the Highland Council Code of Conduct.

The Code of Conduct under Representation 7.9 explicitly states that any councillor involved in decision-making for quasi-judicial or regulatory applications must avoid compromising themselves or their council. The code prohibits councillors from:

• Organizing support for, or opposition to, any application.

• Representing or appearing to represent individuals or groups making representations for or against an application.

• Creating a perception of a conflict of interest.

It would appear that Councillor Bremner has breached these ethical guidelines, creating the perception, if not the reality, of undue influence when it comes to energy infrastructure projects. In particular, his relationship with SSE/SSEN and the energy sector, coupled with his voting influence on planning decisions, is cause for significant public concern.

There have been calls across social media for Councillor Bremner to be held accountable for his conduct. As the Leader of Highland Council, his actions directly impact the council’s reputation. His repeated association with SSE/SSEN, especially while holding a critical regulatory role, presents an unacceptable breach of ethical standards, according to those voicing their concerns and raising the complaint.

A spokesperson representing the group said:

"Councillor Bremner’s leadership as leader of the council is now deeply questionable, and we believe his involvement with SSE/SSEN over the past year demonstrates a clear and consistent conflict of interest. We are calling for his immediate removal as Head of the Council and from the National Planning Area Committee. The public trust in our council is at stake, and we will escalate this issue to the Scottish government if necessary.”

The group behind the representation urges the Ethical Standards Commission to take swift and decisive action, to protect the integrity of Highland Council and ensure that all members adhere to the highest ethical standards in their decision-making processes by suspending Cllr Bremner from the North Planning Applications Committee and his role as Head of Council until a full and thorough investigation has taken place.

Lyndsey Ward from Communities B4 Power Companies states:

“Communities B4 power Companies (CB4PC) and our rapidly growing membership of currently over 3700 stand beside Dunbeath/Berriedale Say No to Pylons Action Group regarding this justified complaint against Cllr Bremner.

As Leader of Highland Council and a member of a planning committee he has a duty to behave in an exemplary manner.

His reported words at the opening of SSEN’s Inverness Hub were misjudged and ill advised and a complete shock to those battling to protect the Highlands from disproportionate industrialisation by Big Energy.

His appearance in what is little more than a SSE promotional video (2) is also called into question especially as the SSE representative makes clear any financial assistance from them for those in poverty is only for those living near their wind farms.

CB4PC also calls for his immediate removal from the North Planning Application Committee and demands that he stands down with immediate effect from his position as Leader of Highland Council.”

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(1)  Attached:  Formal complaint to Ethical Standards Commission

    (2)SSE and Highland Council Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K26ohIHbCFY

Our Press Release - 30th September 2024

Communities B4 power Companies calls on Highland Councillors to do the right thing and vote for Councillor Helen Crawford’s Motion today to make the planning process more transparent and fairer and to give communities a greater say in Big Energy planning applications targeting the region.

For over a decade communities having been dealing with wealthy multinationals industrialising their environment. They have fought wave after wave of planning applications as the global investment companies saw rural Scotland as an easy touch with dispersed settlements, few voters and a government that encouraged them to do what they wanted. Communities have been overwhelmed and distraught at the mounting numbers of energy projects proposed for where they live. None of the developers will have to live with what they have done and have no connection with or desire to protect the Highlands of Scotland. It is all about profit and exporting energy outwith our country. Save for a few beads for the natives the energy companies just trash and go and make eye watering profits for their shareholders.

Today we have a chance to show what is happening here and many members of our group – now over 3600 – will be watching and those not in our region will be going to their own local authorities and demanding similar action. This is a movement to protect the environment from money driven energy companies that is growing across rural Scotland and it will not be stopped.

When Communities B4 Power Companies started in the spring of 2023 following SSEN’s infrastructure bombshell we took professional advice and were made aware of the energy companies ‘salami slicing’’ of planning applications. It means many applications for essentially the same project can land on planning officials desks. It is grossly unfair. It overwhelms, demoralises and depletes opposing communities resources to fight back.

We set about making the public aware of what it is and what it means and we are encouraged to hear so many people now using the term and understanding its implications.

We were also disgusted at the poor mapping by Highland Council when a wind turbine only map was supposedly updated twice a year did not also show all the other energy projects including the multiple terrifying battery storage units plaguing our communities. We also were concerned at the lack of knowledge and understanding of the cumulative impact of so many developments which seemed to be within Highland Council.

It is impossible to properly assess any one application on its own if the area is already flooded with others in the pipeline.

Lyndsey Ward for Communities B4 Power Companies says: “We are delighted that Councillor Helen Crawford has stepped up and understood the issues and is trying to actively do something about it. Our voices have been unheard for too long and the treatment of Highland communities by our elected representatives here and in Holyrood has been utterly shameful. They have backed Big Energy over their own people and the time has come to pick a side or their once safe seats might not be so safe after all.”

Our Press Release - 30th August 2024

THE ARROGANCE OF SSE/SSEN KNOWS NO BOUNDS AS FAR AS RESIDENTS ARE CONCERNED!

As is now common knowledge SSEN and parent company SSE are behind multiple massive infrastructure and energy projects across rural Scotland.

The need for these companies to export wind energy out of Scotland for the sole financial benefit of the global investment companies who own them is robustly refuted by Communities B4 power Companies (CB4PC) and its 3500 members.
What is in no doubt is that the arrogance and gung-ho attitude of this multinational is plain for all to see.

In recent times stunned rural residents have seen and learned of increasing intended planning applications and the unwanted behaviour of those submitting them has been disrespectful to the affected communities and downright obnoxious at times.

In the heavily targeted areas of Beauly, Kilmorack and Kiltarlity SSEN staff told astonished residents at their public consultation last year that it would be like ‘spaghetti junction’ with all their  transmission wires and Beauly was ‘death by location’.  Beauly; named by Mary Queen of Scots, so legend has it, when she referred to it as ‘this beautiful place’.

Not when SSEN has finished with it!.

As the planning application submissions get closer more and more disrespect and arrogance is on show for all to witness.

Today we learned that SSEN want to shut the vital Black Bridge over the River Beauly for one month to survey it to enable them to carry out necessary works to take heavy construction traffic for a substation they haven’t submitted a planning application for yet!

We know, via a FOI, that the Scottish government has not refused any of theirs (or SSE’s) planning applications for over fifteen years so are they so sure of success that they are trying to get ahead of the game?

Any of the lengthy diversions will be costly for the motorist – including farmers and those delivering their children to school. Who will compensate them?

Yesterday we learned about a turbine blade stuck on the Dores road en route to SSE’s Aberader wind farm.

This was reported on the Stratherrick & Foyers Community Face Book page with an overhead view of the debacle. It would appear that SSE was previously warned by the Community Council & local residents about using this route for their monster blades but went ahead anyway and blocked the road.

This week we noticed that the young trees SSEN had planted at the entrance to their Balblair substation monstrosity had been dug up. What we assume was an attempt to screen some of their industrial kit was clearly deemed disposable when the diggers started work. So much for SSEN’s ‘green’ credentials.

Last week we learned that SSEN’s Kimorack and Aigas ‘replacement’ substations required permission for contractors to operate noisily for seven days a week for two years with absolutely no consideration for the local residents who will also be impacted by the Black Bridge closure and the proposed 400kv overhead lines and monster pylons. This non-stop working has been hotly objected to on the planning pages of Highland Council.

On top of all that members of the local community found out, from the last published minutes, that SSEN had approached THEIR community forest in order to use it as an access to where they wish to construct a Beauly Denny sized pylon line across the unspoilt hills towards Spittal. The construction traffic would require a five year access rendering the use and enjoyment of Aigas Community Forest a far and distant memory for visitors and the local people.

Lyndsey Ward from Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) says:



“These are just a few examples of SSE/SSEN’s tentacles sneaking into and disrespectfully disrupting our lives. What is happening here should serve as a warning to everyone affected by the plans of SSE and SSEN and other energy developers. They only care about their shareholders and their bottom line. The cumulative impact of all their applications is going to be horrendous if they get their way. This scatter gun approach is ludicrous and desperately unfair to those expected to suffer the construction and consequences for years to come. We need a more informative approach by our local authorities with details of all energy proposals mapped as soon as they are lodged with the local authority. We would also urge anyone with examples of energy developers being disrespectful,  ‘jumping the gun’ prior to submitting planning applications or operating outwith any permissions to contact their local authority and demand action. If they wish they can also contact CB4PC with details.
In addition Aigas Forest is a community project and should stay a community project without the hobnail boots of Big Energy allowed to stamp over it and spoil it for those who enjoy its peace and tranquillity”. 

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Attached CB4PC banners

Contact: cb4pc.press@btinternet.com

Our Press Release - 16th August 2024

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT? WHO IS ACTUALLY IN CHARGE OF ENERGY POLICY?

GILLIAN MARTIN, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, sends duplicate emails (see at end of this press release) to multiple shocked recipients via their elected representative Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, informing them that the Scottish government has ‘no plans for a public inquiry’ on Skye despite the Highland Council’s objection to SSEN’s overhead line application over nine months ago in November 2023.

A local authority objection to a Section 36 or Section 37 planning application should trigger an automatic public inquiry and communities on Skye, in the full knowledge that SSEN’s overhead lines are to *encourage yet more onshore wind turbines, are anxious for the opportunity to have SSEN’s planning application examined in a public forum and a chance for independent experts to cross examine the developers.

*The encouragement of hundreds if not thousands additional huge and dominating turbines across the Highlands is because of the Scottish government’s onshore wind policy as confirmed by Ofgem to Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC)  and SSEN themselves in a public meeting.

CB4PC has written to the Energy Consents Unit demanding an explanation.

“To announce this decision in a letter to the DFM for her to pass on to a constituent seemed to be a very unusual way (to say the least) to disseminate a decision that many people have been waiting a long time to hear. 

Surely something should have been placed on the ECU web site page and objectors notified. 

A rumour is circulating amongst objectors that the ECU is trying to disown this letter on the basis that it was not written by the ECU.

The Scottish Ministers are a single entity reflecting the code of collective responsibility. When one Minister signs a letter including a decision then that binds the other Ministers too (unless they resign). It also binds the respective Departments.

Furthermore, given that the letter was presumably drafted by senior advisors, who would have consulted with colleagues, and then the letter was checked and signed by the Cabinet Secretary, we are entitled to take the letter at face value and it clearly states “we have no plans to constitute a Public Inquiry”.

Therefore, taking all of the above on board, the "no Public Inquiry" is then the collective decision of the Scottish Government.”

Lyndsey Ward from CB4PC says:

Is the Scottish government just incompetent or do they simply not care about the stress they have loaded onto the citizens of Skye and the Highlands with their clumsy blurting out of vital information. Their contempt for local democracy and disrespect to those about to be hideously impacted by their total disregard of community views and that of their local authority is simply astonishing and unacceptable. A copy and pasted email is not the way to announce such devastating news!
CB4PC continues to be amazed at the slashing of local opinion where Big Energy is concerned. The revelation that SSEN and parent company SSE have not had a planning application refused by Scottish Ministers in at least fifteen years does not instil confidence in those fighting to protect Scotland’s iconic environment from the global investment companies determined to destroy it for profit that the Scottish government has their best interests at heart.

Email from Gillian Martin to Kate Forbes and sent to several constituents asking why there has not been a public inquiry announced for Skye over nine months after Highland Council objected to SSEN’s Section 37 overhead line planning application.  See highlighted section in yellow.

From: Kate Forbes MSP <Kate.Forbes.msp@parliament.scot>
Date: 14 August 2024 at 14:27:29 BST

Subject: Planning Inquiry  (Case Ref: KF20400)

Dear XXXX, thank you for your recent correspondence.
 
Please see below the response that I received from the Energy Minister in full.
 
Kind regards,
 
Kate

Kate Forbes MSP
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch 


Dear Kate,

Thank you for your email on behalf of your constituent, regarding developments on the Isle of Skye and their request for a Public Inquiry.

The Scottish Government recognises the need to strike a balance between allowing deployment to reach net-zero targets and to decarbonise our power supply for the health of our population and environment, while considering concerns over factors such as peatland, biodiversity, landscape impacts, local economy and tourism, and cumulative impacts. The planning system exists to ensure that development sites are optimised and offer net benefit wherever possible, with our planning and consenting systems ensuring that each application is viewed holistically.

It is clear to me that we have a pressing environmental need to increase our renewable generation capacity and there is an important role for onshore wind in driving economic growth, creating high-quality green jobs and bringing wider benefits to communities across Scotland. We will need more installed onshore wind capacity by 2030 but we want communities to benefit more from their development than has been the case in the past and have tasked developers to work with communities on this. You can read more about our onshore wind ambition and the benefits we want this to bring for Scotland in the Onshore Wind Sector Deal.

I recognise that ensuring Scotland has an electricity system that is fit for the demands of the future is vital, and the upgrade to infrastructure is something that countries across Europe are having to prioritise. We need to ensure the power that is generated from increasingly renewable sources can be transported to where it is needed – to our homes, businesses, and communities across Scotland and Great Britain.

I note that your constituent has requested a Public Inquiry. These powers apply to cases where there are considerations of national or regional importance and a proper evaluation of them cannot be made unless there is a special inquiry for the purpose; and that the technical or scientific aspects of the proposed development are of so unfamiliar a character as to jeopardise a proper determination of that question unless there is a special inquiry for the purpose.

There are however existing and well-established consenting procedures for renewable energy infrastructure, including for the consideration of any cumulative impacts arising. Therefore, we have no plans to constitute a Public Inquiry.

However, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that developments happen in the right place, and our planning and consenting systems are designed to ensure local communities can have their say.

The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which was approved by the Scottish Parliament, directly influences all planning and consenting decisions. NPF4 makes sure decision-making enables the sustainable expansion of our electricity networks and renewables infrastructure while continuing to protect our most valued natural assets and cultural heritage. Potential impacts on communities, nature and cultural heritage, including the cumulative effects of developments, are important considerations in the decision-making process, with all applications being subject to site-specific assessments.

The ongoing planning reforms have placed significant emphasis on increasing the capacity for local people to have a meaningful say and influence over their area's future development. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced a range of provisions designed to enhance the engagement of communities throughout the Scottish planning system. This includes several measures intended to improve the process of preparing local development plans, including the new right introduced earlier last year for communities to produce their own local place plans.

Scottish Ministers have responsibility for determining applications relating to onshore generating stations with a capacity greater than 50MW and overhead lines, under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989. Once an application is submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration it is subject to consultation with statutory and non-statutory stakeholders and members of the public. It is through this consultation that local communities have an opportunity to make a representation to any live application. By law, Scottish Ministers must consider representations relating to a project made as a result of that consultation process when considering applications and proposals are considered on a case-by-case basis.

To ensure that everyone has access to relevant information about the procedures for applications under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989, the Scottish Government has published good practice guidance, which includes further information on the application process, public consultations and how to make representations. The good practice guidance is available on the Scottish Government’s website here.

In addition to this we have made repeated calls on the UK Government to make pre-application community engagement in these projects and associated guidance a statutory requirement, and to explore mandating community benefits from all onshore renewable energy projects and transmission infrastructure. At the moment both are voluntary, and the previous government was not responsive to the Scottish Government’s asks on these issues to explore mandating community benefits across all other parts of our future onshore net zero energy system.

However, with a new UK Government now in place I am actively in early engagement with them to progress this work and get agreement. I will continue to make the argument that the communities of Scotland need to see the benefits of these developments and that developers should be subject to stricter rules on how they engage with communities and how they respond to concerns.

In lieu of any UK Government acting on those calls, we are engaging with developers of onshore renewable projects, and with Transmission Owners, to encourage meaningful engagement with communities who are being asked to host this infrastructure.

Thank you again for contacting me about this important matter. I hope your constituent finds the above information helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Gillian Martin MSP 

Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy 

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Contact: Communities B4 Power Companies

Our Press Release - 26th June 2024

A delegation of representatives from communities from Caithness to Beauly threatened by and opposing  SSEN’s massive overhead pylons lines and substations, further onshore wind development and battery storage are meeting outside Highland Council Offices at 8.30am Thursday 27th June 2024 to remind Highland Councillors who they are supposed to represent as they arrive for the full council meeting.

Following the refusal to allow onto the agenda a debate giving a bigger voice, more information and a fairer planning system to distressed and affected communities because of deemed ‘incompetency’ it was discovered that the ‘Social Value Charter for Renewables Investment’ was going to be discussed. This new and alarming document encourages yet more industrialisation of the Highlands and has been cobbled together with the developer in mind and without any public consultation whatsoever. The draft charter was discussed and agreed by the Community Planning Partnership Board in apparent secret on 5th June.* Now it has been revealed by campaigners on social media it must not be rubber stamped at this meeting with no input from affected communities. We do not expect this kind of autocratic behaviour from our elected representatives in our local authorities.

Lyndsey Ward spokeswoman for CB4PC says: It really beggars belief that Councillor Crawford’s important motion was not aided by Highland Council officials to make it onto the agenda yet a document putting the world-renowned Highlands effectively up for sale to any developer prepared to throw a few more beads at the natives, without any proper public or independent scrutiny,  and is deemed competent enough to be debated is truly mind boggling.
We would urge all Highland Councillors to do what is right for the people who elected them into their position of trust and defer from voting on this charter until full and transparent public consultation has been completed.

* https://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/4995/highland_community_planning_partnership_board/attachment/83418 Item 16

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Our Press Release - 18th June 2024

CAMPAIGN GROUP COMMUNITIES B4 POWER COMPANIES DEMAND DETAILED EXPLANATION FROM HIGHLAND COUNCIL AS TO WHY COUNCILLOR’S PLANNING MOTION WAS REFUSED

It is a democratic outrage that Cllr Helen Crawford’s motion has not been accepted by the powers that be at Highland Council in order for it to be discussed at a full council meeting later this month. We sincerely hope that this decision has not been influenced by the forthcoming general election as all Councillors need to get on board with protecting the people who vote for them as have affected community councils – see attached press release from them.  It is high time that our elected representatives recognise the trauma rural communities are suffering at the hands of developers and this motion could have gone some way in doing that.  Ever since SSEN’s bombshell proposals in Spring 2023 communities have been reeling from: the tsunami of developments put forward; woefully inadequate public consultations; indecent haste of proposals; massively increased scale of substations; salami slicing of applications and the flood of new battery storage units. This piecemeal approach is not only unfair it is confusing and stressful for those expected to live in the shadow of this industrial onslaught. Communities need a just planning system that allows fully funded scrutiny of major developments by independent experts. All too often rural citizens have to spend hours of their own time and thousands of their own pounds just trying to understand complex planning applications and striving for a fair deal in the planning process.

Over a year ago Communities B4 power Companies asked the Scottish government and SSEN for evidence of need for Scotland for all this intended development but have not yet received a credible answer. We also asked for an overarching plan of what is expected, now and in the future, of developments in the Highlands, the whole of Scotland and the rest of the UK. We know from SSEN and OFGEM that SSEN’s overhead lines and monster substations are to facilitate the Scottish government’s own onshore wind policy and to encourage yet more turbines in our pristine landscapes. The extra energy is for export to England and beyond as confirmed by energy spokeswoman Gillian Martin MSP. It is for the global investment companies that own the likes of SSEN to make a vast profit on the back of our lives and environment.

Lyndsey Ward says: “Our membership at CB4PC continues to go grow and we now have almost 3300 supporters. Nearly every day we have to deal with distraught community members overwhelmed by what they are facing. They feel helpless and that their situation is hopeless. They are distressed as they fear devalued homes and being trapped where they no longer want to live. They cannot escape from this disproportionate industrialisation even if they wanted to. They feel their elected representatives have abandoned them and thrown them under Big Energy’s gravy train. Rural Scotland is being colonised by Big Energy and it would appear that the strategy is to keep communities in the dark as to the extent of the industrialisation that is coming at them so that they are ill prepared when planning applications go in. They see that SSE and SSEN have not had a refusal by the Scottish government for at least fifteen years and wonder who is calling the shots in Holyrood. It is time we were given the information and the assistance we need to protect not only where we live but our businesses and natural world from unnecessary and further major development before it is just too late”.

Dan Bailey from Strathpeffer & Contin campaign group Better Cable Route says “Councillor Crawford’s motion should have won widespread support. It’s crazy that developers can submit endless applications for ostensibly unrelated projects, while our planners and communities lack oversight of the whole picture. Since the framework in which decisions are currently made is clearly questionable, it would simply be common sense to defer any new decisions until we can put energy planning on a sounder footing with online mapping.”

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Attached Press Release from Community Councils

Our Press Release - 27th March 2024

Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) has learned through Freedom of Information Requests that the Scottish government has not refused any SSE or SSEN planning applications in the last fifteen years.

The only slight blip for SSE was when Glencassley wind farm was refused but approved when re-jigged and re-named Achany Extension.

Both multinationals have a 100% approval record by the Scottish Government.

No grid connection for wind developments have been refused either – no matter how far or what landscape it goes through. Bizarrely these connections are not considered at the time of the development they will serve nor will the emissions or costs be added to the emissions and costs of the wind turbines they are connected to, making wind power conveniently appear cleaner and cheaper than it really is.

SSEN is currently proposing nation changing infrastructure to connect more wind turbines to the grid. The cost is billions of pounds and the emissions and costs for this are also kept separate from the wind turbines it is expected to encourage.

Spokeswoman for CB4PC, Lyndsey Ward says:

‘Now the general public have been made aware that SSEN and their parent company SSE appear to have rubber stamps with their names on it in the Scottish Government they will be horrified.

It certainly explains why communities have come to expect these particular multinationals to get approval for their proposals even if they have been refused by the local authority. SSE has had thousands of objections to its proposals over the years and their wind turbines have been shockingly sited in some of the most breathtaking areas of rural Scotland. SSEN has had less planning applications to date but they can now expect a tsunami of opposition to its recently announced concrete and steel road show and multiple salami sliced planning applications. It is demoralising and stressful from the very start for communities to face an industrial project for profit by these particular energy giants in their own area – more so than any other developer because of the seemingly ‘preferential’ treatment of their planning applications by the Scottish government.

People often feel, and have been told so by SSEN staff at public consultations, that there is no point objecting, it is a ‘done deal’ and that the Scottish ministers back them.

Now this apparent guaranteed approval is public knowledge maybe, just maybe, the Scottish Government will actually change course and heed public opinion instead of helping to boost the wealth of shareholders in these global investment companies at the expense of the UK wide consumer, electorate and the environment.’

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Attached relevant FOIs

For more information please contact:

Lyndsey Ward

Email: cb4pc.press@btinternet.com

Telephone: 07899 035 135

27th March 2024

Our Press Release - 22nd February 2024

22nd February 2024

Residents of the Fanellan area near Kiltarlity are reeling after receiving some devastating news through their letter boxes yesterday. SSEN map attached.

SSEN’s area for a proposed substation, which was around 60 acres in March 2023, has suddenly grown to be 860+ acres in less than a year with zero public consultation.

That is over fourteen times the size of the site they consulted on last spring.

Only those folk in the immediate area were contacted about this monstrous industrial development that will affect so many more for miles around.

For context the appalling noisy substation at Balblair is 42 acres. Two photos attached.

Fanellan will be over twenty times larger. Comparison map attached.

Sixty acres was bad enough for a quiet peaceful crofting community but this is outrageous and SSEN’s lack of engagement with those so adversely is indefensible.

People and their children live within SSEN’s ‘red line. Crops are grown within their ‘red line’. Trees are standing within their ‘red line’.

How does this happen? How does a company be allowed to become so powerful and so arrogant that they are allowed to drip feed devastating news to rural communities without demonstrating the need for any of it.

SSEN are slicing up their plans with separate planning applications and will be submitting one piece of the puzzle at a time. It will confuse, stress and reduce the resources of those determined to protect their environment. It would appear to be a deliberate ploy to undermine the very communities who are suffering from their industrial onslaught.

SSEN have been asked to submit one complete planning application for each of their intended overhead lines. They have not responded.

While buzz words like ‘Net Zero’, ‘Pathway 2030’ and ‘Holistic Design’ are wheeled out at every opportunity no one – no politician, no industry or regulatory authority representative can or will explain exactly what it will mean for rural citizens or when it will end.

SSEN have already admitted to those who attended their ‘consultations’ that all the new proposed infrastructure was for more onshore wind turbines. At a meeting attended by Communities B4 Power Companies in December last year Ofgem said it was for offshore wind and when corrected simply said: “The Scottish government has its own onshore wind targets”.

ie This is not Westminster driving the horrific industrialisation of rural Scotland. It is to facilitate thousands more onshore wind turbines. It is within the power of the Scottish government to halt this with their 100% devolved planning powers but they won’t.

Why not?

At the same meeting it was revealed that a condition of SSEN’s operating licence was they had to engage in ‘meaningful public consultations’.

They have not and an official complaint is being prepared to send to Ofgem.

Why are politicians of all colours refusing to stand against this multinational and protect their constituents?

Why won’t the First Minister stand by his own words in April 2023 when he said that the Scottish government ‘will not steamroll through or impose on any community a policy that it is vehemently opposed to.”

Communities up and down rural Scotland are being thrown under Big Energy’s gravy train. That is the exact opposite to what Humza Yousaf pledged in the Scottish parliament.

A recent FOI asking for details of former SSE/SSEN/Scottish Renewables employees who had been/were within the Scottish government as advisors, special advisors, on committees and involved in studies resulted in being told that the Scottish government does not hold that kind of information.

They said:

‘The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the Scottish Government does not keep a track of employees previous places of employment for all Scottish Government staff. Advisers / special advisers are appointed to their position in the Scottish Government by the First Minister, and do not go through the standard recruitment process, therefore our Special Advisers office also do not hold the information of previous places of employment either. ‘

They don’t know who they employ to advise them and are paid with tax payers’ money? That is simply astonishing.

A follow up request for clarification revealed:

In conducting my review, I have searched our records management system using the keywords (“SSE” AND “CV” OR “Curriculum Vitae”) and (“Scottish Renewables” AND “CV” OR “Curriculum Vitae”) and both these searches returned in excess of 40,000 returns.

Forty Thousand returns!

Dare we ask the questions: Who is directing policy and exactly how much influence by those with vested interests is actually being wielded within Holyrood?

Ofgem’s own figures estimate Scotland will need approximately 9GW in peak winter 2042. The whole UK is less than 100GW yet we have 420GW needing a connection to the grid.

Why? For export that’s why.

Who benefits? Not Scotland. Not the consumer. Not rural communities targeted to ‘host’ SSEN’s concrete and steel road show. It’s no longer Scotland’s energy to sell.

It is the global investment companies like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and The Ontario Teachers Pension Fund who own SSEN and their parent company SSE. Not Scottish and not even UK based companies.

The Scottish government is backing the destruction of rural Scotland and its communities so privately owned companies with global investors can make obscene profits exporting energy out of our once stunning country.

Communities are joining together to fight back against this injustice to protect the wider environment, homes, health and mental well being.

We demand a moratorium into the industrialisation of Scotland by Big Energy and a public inquiry to examine the needs case for what is being proposed.

We also demand that SSEN ceases all planning applications until their conduct has been thoroughly investigated by the energy regulator and the Scottish government.

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Communities B4 Power Companies

Attached:

Increased area map of Fanellan from SSEN

Comparison site map in blue and red

Pictures of Balblair substation

CB4PC images

FOIs available on request

Contact:

Lyndsey Ward

Email: cb4pc.press@btinternet.com

Telephone: 07899 035 135

Our Press Release - 3rd October 2023

PRESS RELEASE 3RD October 2023

The Highlands needs protecting from the ruinous industrialisation by Big 'green' Energy

COUNCILLORS AND OTHER ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES ARE TOLD:  ‘PICK A SIDE – IT IS US OR THEM’

Over the last couple of weeks rural citizens in Scotland have been taking part in an online demonstration by furiously emailing firstly ALL their local authority councillors and then ALL MSPs and Scottish MPS with their views about the industrialisation of Scotland by private energy companies.

These are ordinary people fighting against the proposed onslaught by SSEN’s concrete and steel road show of massive nation changing infrastructure and the expected tsunami of offshore sized wind turbines to be speared into their environment. This is directly encouraged and enabled by the Scottish government.

Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) has supported this action as they continue to demand evidence of need.

This is a question that has not been answered by SSEN (despite repeated prompting), the Scottish government, the Electricity Systems Operator and cannot be answered by Ofgem, as confirmed by a FOI.

Ofgem approves SSEN’s Initial and Final Needs cases for their proposals yet does not hold the data that proves need for them. 

That is extraordinary.

CB4PC member and instigator of the online demonstration Ellen Ritter says: 

“We are being ignored, with no information as to why this is the right way forward, why we need this mass destruction which doesn’t benefit us. 

 It has been overwhelming and some days it seems there is no hope for our future. 

It just got to a point when I felt we really needed to take action which might get our elected representatives to take notice of our views.

Many of us have individually written to our elected representatives. However it seemed that many groups and individuals emailing to all the representatives at the same time would have more impact.   

There was an agreement to do this so we started by contacting all our Regional Councillors.   

 We are now in the middle of contacting all MSPs and MPs.

It won’t stop there. These really are online demonstrations.

They have already succeeded because people are coming together, to add their voices and their stories to the message.  

The message is simple.

We are the people of Scotland. We have a right to decide our future.

Stop what you are planning. Put us before big business.

 After all, this is still a democracy. Isn’t it?” 

On the 29th September “2023 SSEN held a ‘webinar’ that has been reported as a somewhat pointless tick box exercise as pertinent questions on need were not answered.

Roddy Wilson SSEN Planning Manager said:

“SCOTLAND IS A PROVIDER AND ENGLAND IS A CONSUMER”.

That statement has infuriated a lot of communities even more as many in Scotland do not want their rural spaces colonised by Big ‘green’ Energy for the benefit of England or anywhere else. It has been shown that England cannot take the vast increases of wind energy proposed by the industry and the Scottish government. It won’t for some time and may never want more Scottish wind as it works on its own energy security with offshore wind, nuclear and subsea from Morocco.

The over production of something with no end market is a poor business model unless, of course,  the poor beleaguered consumer is there to dig deep and cough up millions in constraint payments to compensate the wind operators for not being able to sell their over already deployed electricity.

This issue of need has become a political hot potato and we at CB4PC intend to keep it that way.

The emails below were sent to all Highland Councillors by one of the founding members of CB4PC Lyndsey Ward.

All emails sent by others were personal and individual.

A similar version was also sent to every MSP and Scottish MP on 28th September 2023 .

One reply came from green MSP Maggie Chapman.

Considering the green party backs Big ‘green’ Energy her reluctance to engage was not exactly an endorsement of her support for rural communities over private companies.

Politicians are being asked to ‘pick a side’ and ‘stand with us or against us’ before it is too late.

This will not go away. Big ‘green’ Energy has to be stopped for rural Scotland and its communities’ sakes.

****************************ENDS ****************************************

Attached: Wind energy figure analysis

Contact for Communities B4 Power Companies

Lyndsey Ward Tel: 07899035135 Email: cb4pc.press@btinternet.com

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Email sent to Highland Councillors 25th September 2023

The Highlands needs protecting from the ruinous industrialisation by Big 'green' Energy

I am writing to you to draw your attention to the alarm, distress and disgust across the Highlands to the industrial concrete and steel road show engulfing communities across rural Scotland. 

We are currently seeing an unprecedented onslaught of offshore sized wind turbines, gargantuan pylons, overhead lines, massive substations and battery storage facilities proposed in our beloved natural environment.

Under the pretence of ‘saving the planet’ ruthless and wealthy multinationals are dropping application after application into our already burdened local authority. It would appear to be a deliberate strategy to overwhelm and demoralise rural citizens. It is no exaggeration to say we feel under siege.

There is no evidence whatsoever that what is being proposed will change what the climate does and developers spread fear by telling us we have to accept their industrial carnage or risk an apocalypse.

It is time to demand evidence for everything developers tell us to promote their applications and not just roll over and succumb to industry propaganda.

I am one of the founding members of Communities B4 Power Companies. 

This group was formed in the spring of this year in the aftermath of SSEN’s public ‘consultation’ regarding the Spittal to Beauly overhead lines and shocking substations. Nowhere could we see that communities would be protected. Nowhere did communities seem to matter. 

I will never forget the ashen faces leaving Kilmorack Hall near Beauly or those with eyes full of tears as they realised just what SSEN had in store for them.

That is what spurned myself and likeminded residents on to question the need for all this. Communities B4 Power Companies has rapidly reached over 2100 members on Facebook. People have joined looking for help, support and, most importantly, hope to fight against the threat to their way of life and the natural environment.

They are not interested in community ‘benefit’ as no amount of money can make up for what they will lose.

We instructed a planning policy expert and figures from Ofgem and the Scottish government were analysed.

The result?  No - we don’t need any of this. 

Scotland already produces enough wind power for itself. We also have sufficient transmission for our needs although some upgrades could be necessary new transmission lines are not. The new overhead lines are speculative; a business model; a commercial enterprise for Big Energy, for private multinationals that have been encouraged to harvest rural Scotland for profit and to enrich their shareholders. It is a frightening prospect and mirrors what we did as a nation in the past which we have to continually apologise for. 

The public inquiry for new OHLs at Dalmally showed how speculative these lines are as SSEN reluctantly admitted under questioning only 6% of capacity had customers meaning 94% was to encourage more wind developments that we do not need and the power of which England cannot take and probably won’t for a decade. Will it ever need more Scottish wind with its nuclear and offshore wind programme and its proposed subsea cables to Morocco?

More wind power will mean a bigger bottleneck at the border and bigger constraints paid by the UK consumer to stop turbines generating into the grid. It currently stands at £1.5b. Constraints appear to be the new public subsidy. How much more should the poor and vulnerable fork out for Big Energy?

This is a cart before horse policy and it is time for it to be challenged instead of obediently approving Big Energy applications when there is nowhere for more wind power to flow to. 

The current rash of battery storage applications is not a viable solution.  They are purely to make money, a lot of money buying cheap energy and selling at an inflated price when the wind doesn’t blow, again burdening the consumer and communities here and those overseas for the huge quantities of lithium that will be required. Lithium mining itself on the scale needed for battery storage is an environmental disaster in the countries it is mined in. Water theft is commonplace leaving indigenous peoples unable to grow crops or water their livestock. 

As a nation we cannot continue to destroy the environment of others in order to virtue signal in our own country.

It is time Councillors questioned the ethics of such developments and demand to be shown that the ‘green’ credentials are indeed as clean as we are led to believe. 

To support unregulated and unethical lithium mining is immoral and unacceptable to any decent person.

We should also question the origins of steel used to make turbines and pylons and other infrastructure. The majority, if not all, undoubtedly come from China where coal mining and burning has increased to produce it. Not only that the resulting turbines and infrastructure are transported to us in diesel ships. None of that is factored in to or added to the emissions of the industrial hardware that lands here when promoted in a planning application as helping towards government climate targets.

It smacks of deep hypocrisy and unbelievable that no politician seems informed or brave enough to ask the pertinent questions and demand answers from this seemingly all powerful and unchallenged industry.  

The Scottish government has recently signed a deal with the wind industry to speed up planning applications. The industry does not want public inquiries. This makes a farce of local democracy and must be resisted at every level.

The Scottish government wants 20GW of onshore wind by 2030. 

Analysis of figures* shows we already have 19.9GW of onshore wind operational, under construction, approved and in the planning process in April 2023.

Conservative estimates for wind energy in 2030/2032 with what we have in planning (as at April 2023), offshore, extensions and repowering indicate we will have 72GW in Scotland. Ofgem figures suggest Scotland will need 9GW in peak winter by 2042. That could mean it is entirely likely we will be producing eight times what we need from wind alone and nowhere for the energy to go to.

WE DO NOT NEED MORE!  

Communities B4 Power Companies wants a moratorium on further wind turbines, substations, battery storage and OHLs proposals until need is irrefutably proven.

As a group we have sent a professional submission to SSEN and the Scottish government asking for evidence of need including an overarching plan for the Highlands, Scotland and the wider UK. We have also asked for one planning application for each of the three lines that Beauly is expected to ‘host’. What a benign word ‘host’ is. It belies the devastation that is intended. 

This was in April 2023 and only after several prompts did we receive a response from SSEN that did not answer our questions so we submitted a FOI to Ofgem. They have recently replied that they do not hold the information we asked for. That is extraordinary considering they approve SSEN’s Initial Needs Cases and Final Needs Cases for their developments. We are to now go back to SSEN with the information we have received from Ofgem and demand they answer our questions clearly and honestly.

If you are not already aware SSEN is 75% owned by SSE, probably the biggest and most successful wind developer in Scotland. They are also the recipients of a large portion of the constraints paid out by consumers to turn turbines off. Their financial interest in the environment altering infrastructure proposed by SSEN is undeniable.

The other 25% is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Nothing to do with Scotland and far removed from the carnage proposed by their investment.

I implore you as not only a resident of the Highlands but also a passionate environmentalist to stand up and speak out for us, the communities targeted by Big Energy in the name of ‘green’, and for the environment and wildlife we should all appreciate and be protecting. 

Yours sincerely

Lyndsey Ward

Beauly


*Attached wind energy figure analysis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Email Sent to all Highland Councillors  2nd October 2023

Dear Councillor

Thank you to the few of you who have responded to my email dated 25.9.23 calling for help to protect the Highlands from Big ‘green’ Energy.

Thank you also to all those who took the time to read my correspondence but did not reply.

I sincerely hope that every one of you considered the content and implications of the information that I sent to you.

I fully understand why those connected to the planning committees cannot comment but the purpose of my email was to ask you to make a stand against any further development if there is no evidence of need.

I was not talking about individual planning applications but the whole thing – the turbines and the infrastructure.

That means calling a moratorium and challenging the Scottish government’s build, build, build policy when there is no guaranteed route to market. 

Please help us get the answers we have asked for.

Where is the evidence of need for all the new wind turbines and massive infrastructure?

The paying public deserves the facts and figures that prove exactly what is needed for ‘Net Zero’.

What is ‘Net Zero’?

Telling us that ‘need has been established’ is not good enough.

Who has ‘established’ it anyway?

The industry?

It’s not Ofgem according to a FOI and the Scottish government and SSEN haven’t come forward with any evidence. Communities B4 Power Companies will continue to push for the truth and the evidence but we need elected representatives to understand the enormity of what is in front of us and stand with us. This is not going away. You will have to pick a side.

We have a right to have answers– before it is too late. We must be able to count on your support to protect the Highlands from those private companies who come, harvest, destroy lives and the environment and leave us to live with what they have done. 

Where is the fairness? Where is the justice? Where is this ‘just transition’ we are told about?

Has Highland Council the resources to deal with tsunami of planning applications that are definitely coming their way? Should residents of the Highlands suffer further financial burdens and have their planning committees tied up with dealing with multiple complex applications from the energy multinationals with a seemingly never ending depth of pocket?

We also need public inquiries so that developers’ plans can be scrutinised and they can be cross examined by independent experts. This is industrialisation on a massive nation altering scale and we, the paying public and affected communities, deserve the opportunity, in a public forum, to have our say.

Thank you again

Lyndsey Ward

Our Press Release - 23rd August 2023

 PRESS RELEASE

COMMUNITIES B4 POWER COMPANIES RESPONDS TO SCOTTISH RENEWABLES CALL FOR MORE MEGA TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE.  

The hot air blowing from Scottish Renewables in their latest press release was sufficient to keep the entire Scottish wind fleet operational when the weather can’t.

In a public statement that is full of praise for it its own paying members’ money driven agenda the trade association reeled off their own ‘reasons’ for Scottish communities to roll over and allow the mass industrialisation of their environment, iconic landscapes and prime agricultural land in order to produce yet more wind energy that is simply not needed in Scotland.

Scotland’s estimated peak winter demand for electricity in the winter in 2042 is 9GW. We have that and more from wind energy alone now without any other form of generation. We also have enough transmission for what we need with some minor upgrades to the existing networks. The wind industry is proposing around eight times that amount to be produced in Scotland. It is that gross scale of over provision that is, in turn, driving the explosion of transmission applications.

This is not about Scotland. This is about export to England and beyond. This is about trashing our world celebrated stunning country for others and encouraging private companies, answerable only to their shareholders, to come over the welcome mat set before them by our misguided government.

As more and more wind energy is loaded onto the grid the constraints to turn turbines off increases.

The current amount loaded onto consumers’ bills is, at 15th August 2023, £1,426,871,724*. This does not include the Forward Energy Trades** that, in 2011, were running parallel with the now £1.4b in the public domain. Efforts to establish that figure today have not been successful and we can only hope they are still not running parallel.

Mr Sharpe, Director of Communications and Strategy at Scottish Renewables, refers to ‘cheap renewable generation’- a mantra that suits the purposes of the trade association when trying to justify the destruction of Scotland for the profit of its members.

Mr Sharpe rather patronisingly refers to those against these massive grid upgrades for customers outwith Scotland as being concerned about their ‘view’. He is wrong. The majority of those joining Communities B4 Power Companies see the bigger picture and it is not good.

England’s grid cannot take any more wind power and probably won’t for a decade. By adding more to an upgraded grid in Scotland doesn’t solve that. Constraints will rise because the bottleneck at England’s grid with increase. Consumers will suffer on their bills. England has its own offshore wind program, nuclear and subsea to Morocco. Will they even need more Scottish wind? Will we be left with a network of massive pylons, substations, transmission lines and thousands of turbines with nowhere for this energy to flow to?

Will the industry care as they are paid handsomely to simply switch off?

Are constraints the new subsidy?

Wind energy is linked to the price of gas. The wind operators have massively benefited from the volatile prices. When wind fails and reliable generation is asked to fill the void we have been paying some extraordinary costs just to keep the lights on - £4000+MWh. That is NOT cheap electricity and should be added to the costs (and emissions) of the regularly parroted figures for wind by the industry and government.

Despite saying ‘it’s time to be upfront and honest’ nowhere does Mr Sharpe address the concerns of the true environmentalists fighting against the industrialisation of our natural places by  SSEN’s intended concrete and steel road show and the thousands more onshore and offshore wind turbine feeding frenzy that will surely follow.

Nor does Mr Sharpe tell us this will ‘be it’ and even SSEN refused to say at a public meeting this would be the last of the pylon lines to devastate our country for others.

Nor does Mr Sharpe offer any data to give evidence of need for the devastation he is seemingly happy to unleash on Scotland and its rural communities.

Nor has SSEN, three quarters owned by SSE and probably the most successful and biggest wind developer in Scotland, given Communities B4 Power Companies the proof of need we have repeatedly and officially asked for. That request is also with the Scottish government and Ofgem.

Mr Sharpe says: ‘The UK’s electricity network is not fit for purpose’. Communities B4 Power Companies says: ‘The UK’s energy policy is not fit for purpose’.

It is time for us to protect the environment against ruthless wealthy multinationals and demand our elected representatives stand by their communities and not private companies.

This is a political hot potato and Communities B4 Power Companies will continue to demand irrefutable evidence of need and stand up for communities who are simply being dismissed as irrelevant by those who are intent on plundering Scotland for profit.

Spokeswoman Lyndsey Ward for Communities B4 power Companies says:

‘The beads for the natives that are ‘offered’ as compensation for living with a destroyed environment are scorned by those who are deeply affected and by true environmentalists who understand that the destruction of habitats and wildlife by industrialisation using Chinese coal produced steel to encourage yet more onshore wind development is neither going to save the planet or give us cheap electricity or security. We cannot continue to ignore the exploitation of people overseas to fulfil this ‘green’ agenda. We DO need to be ‘upfront and honest’ about how this extreme virtue signalling is impacting others here and elsewhere.

As more wind is deployed even higher energy bills are forthcoming  – not just here but across every nation that has been hoodwinked into filling the coffers of ‘renewable’ Big Energy. We should be looking at more localised energy, insulation in our homes and reducing consumption to protect the environment and consumers. We demand evidence of need for these grid upgrades otherwise we are simply just swapping one dirty industry for another and attempting to cover it in a green cloak of decit’.

* https://www.ref.org.uk/constraints/?tab=mt&yr=all

** https://www.ref.org.uk/press-releases/249-ref-calls-for-transparency-over-secret-wind-power-constraint-payments



*********************************** ENDS*******************************************

23rd August 2023

Contact: Communities B4 power Companies Spokeswoman Lyndsey Ward 

Our Press Release - 16th June 2023

PRESS RELEASE FROM COMMUNITIES B4 POWER COMPANIES 16.6.23

Communities B4 power Companies demand Highland Council call in their decision to not object to SSEN’s plans To ravage Skye’s stunning landscape with huge pylons and transmission lines. The new lines will facilitate multiple new onshore wind turbine applications and they and their infrastructure will further despoil one of Scotland’s treasures.

Letters are being sent to Highland Council from Skye residents demanding action.

Spokeswoman for CB4PC Lyndsey Ward says:

“Highland Council’s decision to not object to this massive project and allow proper scrutiny through a public inquiry was simply astonishing. Being a ‘necessary evil’ (quote from Councillor Drew Miller) as a reason not to object isn’t found anywhere in planning policy. Following professional advice CB4PC submitted a formal objection*  to the Energy Consents Unit asking for evidence of need of the lines and pointing out that certain information from other statutory consultees had not been available to Highland Council at the time of their decision. For proper and fair democracy the new transmission lines proposed by SSEN should be examined by independent experts at a public inquiry.”

Andrew Robinson from Skye Windfarm Information Group says:

“The proposed SSEN Skye to Fort Augustus Reinforcement Power Line is not needed. It’s being built to take power from multiple proposed wind farms which developers are seeking to build on Skye – and yet we already produce ten times the electricity the island needs from the existing turbines here. It appears the Highland Council decided “not to object” to SSEN’s proposals before all the Consultees’ comments had been received. We are therefore asking the Council to reconsider it’s decision and instead to call for a Public Inquiry examining the need for the new power line - balancing this against the environmental damage the development will cause.

There is no clear strategic view for the development of renewables and  the Highland Council and the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit are allowing developers and private industry to drive forward piecemeal proposals that will wreck our beautiful natural environment whilst returning very little benefit to local communities.”

In April 2023 CB4PC also sent a formal Initial Consultation Response*  regarding the Spittal to Beauly transmission line to SSEN and Ofgem, copied to the Scottish government and Highland Council, asking for evidence of need for the new transmission as analysis of the Scottish government’s own website shows Scotland already has sufficient generation to meet targets. CB4PC also asked for a clear plan of grid upgrades for the Highlands, Scotland and wider UK. In addition CB4PC asked that planning applications for each line were limited to one only instead of the confusing piecemeal approach by SSEN. There has been no response aside from acknowledgment of receipt and promises to ‘escalate’ our requests.

Lyndsey Ward adds:

“CB4PC has a rapidly growing membership on Facebook of rural folk who are reeling in shock when they discover the enormity of SSEN’s concrete and steel road show crashing over their lives. They have joined from Spittal to Beauly to Peterhead and Tealing.

Some have already been told Compulsory Purchase Orders will be used on those who do not freely give up their land to this grotesque industrialisation.

The Highlands will never be the same again if SSEN is allowed to railroad through our environment and our homes with their appalling proposals.

More industrial destruction will follow with many more new onshore wind turbines proposed to hook into these transmission lines. SSEN were also unable or unwilling to confirm at a public meeting if these would be the last lines we would be facing.

It is essential that public inquiries are held for all these transmission projects. It is an utter disgrace that such landscape altering proposals are not automatically granted one.

The Beauly to Denny and sprawling 42 acre substation at Balblair is a warning to all who think they will be able to negotiate with this profit driven multinational. It is a crime against nature and will come to haunt SSEN as its very existence is testament to all that is wrong when private companies answerable to their shareholders get a foothold in our communities.”

**********************************ENDs*****************************************

*Attached

CB4PC Formal objection to Skye to Fort Augustus Reinforcement Power Line

CB4PC Initial Consultation Response to Spittal to Beauly proposals

Scotland Electricity March 2023 Briefing Paper

16th June 2023

Our Press Release - 17th May 2023

PRESS RELEASE IN RESPONSE TO SSEN’S STATEMENT TODAY

SSEN claims it is ‘listening’ to the public and exploring alternative routes and mitigation measure for the Spittal to Beauly overhead line.

The public has made it quite clear to SSEN that OHL on huge 50m+ lattice towers and substations of 60 acres – 35 professional football pitches – are simply not acceptable in our rural communities. Any tweaks and pylon ‘hokey cokey’ is not enough to satisfy those passionate about protecting the Highlands. Their press release is vague and non committal.

Did SSEN listen to the public for the visually polluting Beauly to Denny line and the grotesque sprawling substation at Balblair? We have learned valuable lessons from the environmental vandalism that was forced upon the affected rural communities.

These transmission lines, according to SSEN staff, are for new wind turbines to hook into.

Communities B4 Power Companies commissioned a professional submission to be sent to SSEN and Ofgem asking for evidence of need for these transmission lines right across the Highlands – not just the Spittal to Beauly. We also asked for the over arching plan for the Highlands, for Scotland and the rest of the UK. That was sent six weeks ago and they have not responded to the questions asked. Their press release states this is a GB wide programme and yet have failed to be transparent with the paying public.

The figures we have don’t prove need, quite the opposite. As the consumer is paying for this environmental onslaught they have every right to demand detailed answers that can be open to scrutiny.

Scotland doesn’t need any more power and the transmission we have now can cope with wind farm developments that are operational or in planning now.

England cannot take any additional power and their grid will not be competent for a decade by which time with their own offshore wind, nuclear and subsea cables they may not even buy Scottish wind.

Lyndsey Ward, spokeswoman for Communities B4 power Companies, says:

“If this goes ahead the bottle necks in the grid will get bigger and the constraint payments for the over deployed wind fleet to switch off will increase as will consumers’ electricity bills to pay for this ill thought out farce. This is an exercise in making shareholders richer, consumers poorer and burying the Highlands under a tsunami of concrete and steel. SSEN are throwing communities along this line a rotten bone before the meeting in Strathpeffer tomorrow night in an attempt to deflect a furious public.”

Ends

Communities B4 Power Companies Contact: Lyndsey Ward 07899 035 135

Submission attached

17th May 2023

Our Press Release - 28th April 2023

BEAULY DESCRIBED AS ‘DEATH BY LOCATION’ AS SSEN STAFF PARTY 

Hundreds of concerned residents filed into Beauly’s Phipps Hall on Thursday 27th April to hear about SSEN’s latest infrastructure plans. The mood was sombre as residents contemplated details of the energy giant’s proposals which will industrialise the countryside around Beauly, the Aird and beyond and ruin homes and businesses. One SSEN employee indiscreetly described Beauly’s plight as ‘death by location’. This follows a previous comment by them that Beauly would become like ‘spaghetti junction’ with all SSEN’s proposed transmission lines.

Meanwhile that same evening, in stark contrast to the mood of the meeting, around a dozen members of the SSEN community liaison team were reportedly spotted laughing, cheering and ordering successive rounds of drinks in a city bar.
Their celebrations could certainly be viewed as insensitive by residents, some of whom were close to tears as they left SSEN’s exhibition. 

The statutory meeting was one of a series called by SSEN to inform the public about the pylon line planned to go from Beauly to Peterhead. 

Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) had a peaceful presence for the duration of the meeting to give information to visitors about their campaign.  Spokeswoman Lyndsey Ward said: “We had great support from the vast majority who attended and they were happy to sign our petition to stop SSEN. We were surprised to be visited twice by the police and to also be reported for blocking a fire exit, which we were not. We can only imagine who thought it appropriate to have police attend a community gathering. Perhaps it was SSEN concerned that their catastrophic plans would invoke high emotions from those about to have their lives turned upside down. I was told by a furious builder that SSEN had cost him £22,000 in lost work as an extension he had been booked for was suddenly cancelled due to the close proximity of the pylon lines. How many others will lose thousands of pounds in lost work, from their business and in property values as wealthy multinational SSEN boosts the coffers of its shareholders? Shareholders who are disconnected from the Highlands and will never have to live with the steel monstrosities their investment company has forced upon innocent Highlanders and their homes’. 

Followers of CB4PC’s Facebook page has rapidly grown to over 1300 as the campaign group attracts support from up and down the Highlands and across to Peterhead. ‘We have pressure groups from the proposed Spittal to Beauly pylon route joining us and now calls coming from places like Turriff in Aberdeenshire,’ said Ms Ward. She predicts that the group and campaign will continue to grow as people realise the extent of the development proposals. 

CB4PC is fighting the building of three pylon lines and infrastructure including a 60 acre substation at Kiltarlity on the basis of there being no proven need for the electricity that they would carry. Local councillors and MSPs are being kept informed of evidence as it is uncovered by the group.

Ends
28th April 2023

Our Press Release - 21st April 2023

COMMUNITIES BEFORE POWER COMPANIES WELCOMES THE NEW FIRST MINISTER’S COMMITMENT TO NOT IMPOSE POLICIES ON COMMUNITIES THAT THEY VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE TO.


Humza Yousaf, our new First Minister, made it crystal clear at First Minister’s Questions yesterday that he backed communities making their own decisions. Unlike his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, who personally refused to allow rural folk to veto wind developments in their own area.

While responding to a question by Donald Cameron about the fishing communities’ opposition to the Highly Protected Marine Areas Mr Yousaf stated:

'I will reiterate what I said last Tuesday that this government will not steamroll, will not impose on ANY community a policy they are vehemently opposed to'.

This cannot be interpreted in any other way than the First Minister meaning any community whatever the policy.

SSEN is proposing the most devastating transmission schemes that will see the Highlands speared with hundreds of massive pylons of 57m and a rash of wind developers, desperate for a hook up, seeking planning permission for thousands of more turbines almost four times the size of the pylons.

Lyndsey Ward spokeswoman for the new pressure group Communities B4 Power Companies said:

“We are delighted that this First Minister has at last promised ‘that this government will not steamroll, will not impose on ANY community a policy they are vehemently opposed to'.

We are demanding to see the facts and figures that have resulted in these horrific proposals by SSEN. The public are paying for their destructive Highland jamboree and we are entitled to see the evidence of need because from where we are standing it is not there. No longer will we accept the ‘you must have this because we say so’ line without proof of need. 

SSEN’s  three intended 400kv power lines are set to converge on the Highland village of Beauly  creating, in the words of SSEN staff, a ‘spaghetti junction’ of transmission wires. We have news for SSEN. We are not their spaghetti junction and nor will we be their collateral damage.

There are many communities the length of these proposed lines who vehemently oppose SSEN’s plans. Not one has come forward to support them.

Communities B4 Power Companies looks forward to our First Minister standing by his words and protecting Highland Communities from SSEN”


Ends
21st April 2023 

Our Press Release - 7th April 2023

Communities B4 Power Companies NEWS RELEASE

 RESIDENTS RAGE AT SSEN PLANS FOR HIGHLAND BEAUTY SPOT ‘SPAGHETTI JUNCTION’

Over 150 furious residents thronged Kiltarlity Community Hall and joined in by Zoom today (Friday 7th April) to jump start the campaign against SSEN and Scottish Government shock plans to ‘industrialise the Highlands’ by building new power networks.

At the meeting called by pressure group Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC), residents spoke out strongly against proposals announced in March to erect a substation the size of 35 football pitches near Beauly. The power giant threatens to run super-sized pylon lines the length and breadth of the Highlands and to Peterhead and to turn the quiet villages of the Aird and their scenic countryside where the lines converge into a ‘Spaghetti junction’ as an SSEN official put it.

 SSEN was slammed for giving residents under a month to respond to plans, then just adding a derisory two more weeks after residents and a cross-party group of local councillors demanded three extra months. At a statutory public consultation called by SSEN, many residents were in tears at the proposals and so many objections are being sent to SSEN that community liaison email responses admit being unable to deal with the traffic. Staff have been taking annual leave during the consultation period, maps and information on the web site have been inadequate, and ‘out of office’ is the response to most approaches, campaigners claim. 

 “We learnt from the Beauly-Denny line objections that SSEN’s ‘listening to stakeholders’ is a cynical box-ticking exercise – a tiny fig leaf of consultation on a very big pylon. They ignored all our input. The same will happen this time,” said CB4PC campaigner Lyndsey Ward

 Ms Ward explained to the meeting that based on the Beauly-Denny experience there was no point in fighting SSEN on the structures and routes they propose at this stage. Beauly to Denny was fought and lost on environmental issues. Advice to CB4PC from its planning policy expert is to oppose the proposals on a ‘no need’ basis. “Crazy though it may seem, there is no master plan for Scotland and the UK showing power requirements, either now or in the future, measured against what is being produced and what is in the system for future production,” she explained to the meeting. “We want the facts and figures not just having it forced upon us. Show us the evidence we need this transmission because we have looked and we can’t find it”.

“Wind farms are being consented willy-nilly with no idea where their power is needed or how it will get there. This whole rush for power is driven by an unholy alliance between greedy wind farm developers, fat cat power companies – SSEN parent company SSE, one of Scotland’s most prolific wind farm developers, earned £3.6 bn profits last year – and Scottish Ministers with their mad drive to green wash Scotland. When the wind blows, we already produce more green power than we can use now and in the future.” said Ms Ward. “When it doesn’t we have to get reliable generation wherever we can get it”.

 “Like similar campaigns in Argyll and Dumfries, we will demand that OFGEM and SSEN show us the need for this power which threatens to ruin people’s lives and despoil one of the most beautiful places on earth in order to send electricity South to England.”

 Denise Davis, another speaker at the event, likened the proposed power infrastructure to the railway boom and bust mania of the C19th when lines like the Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway in the Highlands were never viable. “While SSEN and Scottish ministers rape our countryside with their schemes, nothing is planned south of the border to carry the power they will produce for the next ten years; in fact, the opposite. England is planning its own network of small nuclear power reactors. Scotland’s electricity will be left all charged up with nowhere to flow,” she said. “It’s utter madness”. 

 Deep-pocketed SSEN was also roundly criticised at the meeting for its ‘deliberately opaque’ tactics of filing multiple planning applications for the same overall scheme, a ruse to cause confusion and cost to campaigners who will have to resource separate planning enquiries. 
A submission has gone to SSEN and Ofgem demanding a fairer approach. 

 “This plan only looks ahead seven years,” said Ms Ward. “But don’t be fooled into thinking it will stop there. Once you let SSEN get away with building what they want, there will only be more to follow. They already refer to there being ‘room for expansion’ on their preferred site for the 60 acre substation at Fanellan.”

A powerful billboard campaign is being proposed with one of the banners unveiled at tonight’s meeting. “We intend this to be a campaign like never before seen in the Highlands. We have had enough of being dumped on and we demand to be listened to”.

 Communities B4 Power Companies urges residents and organisations concerned by the recent plans announced by SSEN for the proposed Spittal – Loch Buidhe – Beauly overhead lines and substations, the Western Isles connection (due for future consultation) and the Beauly – Blackhillock – New Deer – Peterhead overhead lines and substations to join them in ‘just saying no’.

Web Site www.communitiesb4powercompanies.co.uk

Our Press Release - 31st March 2023

PRESS RELEASE IN RESPONSE TO SSEN STATEMENT - Friday 31st March 2023

Statement by Communities B4 Power Companies spokeswoman Lyndsey Ward:

SSEN’s claims* to be engaging in a ‘respectful and constructive manner’ with local communities have been rubbished by Lyndsey Ward, spokesman for Beauly-based Communities B4 Power Companies, one of many community groups opposing the power giant’s plans for a massive power development from the North and West coasts to Peterhead.

“SSEN has shown anything but the openness and inclusivity they claim,” she said. “It’s been quite clear to those of us dealing with them that they are going through the motions in conducting token consultations and have made up their minds already where they intend to put the lines. How respectful is that?”

Ms Ward said her claims are backed by those reporting back from an archaeology and heritage group meeting in Dingwall on 21st March with SSEN. It was clear that SSEN staff had little idea of the many historic sites along their corridor options. Delegates were told that SSEN plan to have decided on the main routes by mid-April and the exact placing of the towers within six to eight months and yet they only expect to ‘walk’ the route in the summer. It would appear that their catastrophic plans have been conducted from their desks.

Ms Ward has also been contacted by someone heavily impacted by SSEN plans. They said:

‘I had a call last week from a SSEN land manager, who despite having 'every sympathy with us', eventually admitted to me that the line will definitely go ahead, the route has been decided, and they were just 'tweaking' the final sites for the pylons. He had no answer to 'what's the point of a 'consultation?’

NB The call took place week beginning 20th March – over three weeks before the extended ‘consultation’ period ends.

The first residents in the Beauly area heard of the extent of plans for “industrialising their countryside” was on March 2nd at a statutory public meeting where they were told they would have only until 31st March to respond. “Thanks to an open letter from a cross-party group of our local councillors, this was extended a derisory two weeks. We had asked for a minimum of three months. We are asking our MSPs to join our calls for a longer period for those affected to examine the highly technical and potentially life changing information needed to make an informed response to SSEN. Perhaps SSEN would rather we didn’t do that”.

When SSEN were told at this meeting that where all their three corridor ‘options’ converge  it would result in crossing over existing power lines their engineer confirmed that ‘they couldn’t do that’. How little research on the ground has actually been done? SSEN should have come out from behind their desks BEFORE they dumped their unacceptable proposals on our stunned communities.

“Let’s not forget we are talking three lines of mega-pylons descending on a new substation at Beauly the size of 35 football pitches at its smallest. In an unguarded moment, one SSEN spokesman told a shocked resident that Beauly would be like ‘Spaghetti Junction’”.

Ms Ward called SSEN’s claims of informing and listening to stakeholders “a very skimpy fig leaf on a mega pylon”. “During this absurdly short ‘consultation period’ we have been faced with inaccurate maps on their web site, ‘out-of-office’ and ‘away on annual leave’ replies to emails from community liaison staff. We find this air of wounded virtue exhibited by SSEN hard to swallow.”

Communities B4 Power Companies has called a public meeting in Kiltarlity Village Hall on Friday April 7th.

* In SSEN 28th March statement

Original SSEN Statement can be found here