Call for power line to go underground

Another SNP politician is urging power firm Scottish and Southern Energy to act on objectors’ calls for burying sections of the proposed replacement Beauly-Denny transmission line to preserve the scenery.

There appears little likelihood that it will, however, judging by a letter from a company official who stated in yesterday’s Press and Journal, that the transmission line “does not pass through any of Scotland’s designated National Scenic Areas”.

Last week Ochil MSP Keith Brown pressed the power giant to respond to public demands for substantial mitigation measures to avoid visual blight posed by 600 pylons, each 214ft high.

Yesterday, Highlands and Islands MSP Dave Thompson questioned Energy and Tourist Minister Jim Mather on the issue of burying sections of the new, 137-mile long power line.

He welcomed his colleague’s approval of the project, saying it would “help kick-start Scotland's renewable energy industry”. But he has revealed he will meet SSE officials “to continue to apply pressure for key sections of the line to be placed underground to limit their impact on the surrounding environment”.

Mr Mather said it would be “technically unfeasible to underground anything like the whole line”, and warned that burying cables on some stretches “could cause greater (environmental) damage.”

Mr Mather has admitted he does not have any powers to order the developer to bury the line.

He has asked SSE to “mitigate” the impact in some key areas, including the Cairngorms National Park and near the Balblair substation, at Beauly.

The letter from SSE’s head of policy and public affairs, Keith MacLean, stated that “most of the new overhead line will be within a kilometre of an existing line of pylons, which will be dismantled”.

It added that the landscape, in key areas like the Cairngorms park, would be “improved through the removal of other power lines as part of the package”.