Meeting of the Parliament 22 January 2025
Absolutely.
We are currently facing plans for hundreds of miles of new pylons right across Scotland, affecting the Highlands, the Borders and Aberdeenshire, and just about everywhere in between. Turbines are popping up everywhere and battery storage is completely out of control. Communities are up in arms. They are being ignored, concerns are being dismissed and local issues are being discounted.
Compensation is not adequate and the promise of a couple of hundred quid off their energy bill for a few years or another community hall does not make up for the thousands of pounds that people are seeing wiped from the value of their home and the noise and disruption that come along with those developments.
Public inquiries are a vital part of our planning system to prevent rushed decisions from being taken by those with vested interests. They allow local communities to make their voices heard and empower our communities to have a chance to put their side of the argument. They are not about stopping all developments or standing in the way of progress; they are about giving the people who know the area best a voice—and the Scottish Conservatives will always stand up for our local communities.
I have done something that the cabinet secretary has not done; I have gone to speak to the individuals who will be impacted by these developments. They have genuine concerns, borne out of love for their landscape, their heritage and their homes. They understand the move to net zero—but not at any price. They simply want to have their say, and the proposals from both this devolved Government and the UK Labour Government will deny them their voice.
I have been meeting groups in Turriff, New Deer and Leylodge, and the residents are at their wits’ end. One resident I have to mention is June Morrison, who is becoming a bit of a star on local television. June is already having to put up with a massive new substation in her back garden. On the back of that, there are plans for a huge hydrogen production facility and multiple battery storage facilities. That is the problem: it is the cumulative effect of all those developments together that make them so wrong.
Just this week, The Press and Journal reported on another massive wind farm—this time in Clashindarroch, near Dufftown, by Canadian firm Boralex. Campaigner Trevor Smith accused Boralex of seeking to
“strip the Cabrach of the natural assets which make it such a special place to live”,
and said that the development has become
“a symbol of corporate bullying and greed.”
We simply cannot stand by while our constituents are ignored like that. We cannot keep quiet when our communities are telling us that they do not want these monster pylons, turbines and battery storage facilities to be built together. We cannot allow big companies to greenwash and spend millions on advertising and lobbying to divide our communities. For those companies, this is not about delivering net zero; it is about delivering profits to their shareholders. We cannot ignore the voices of our communities on decisions that affect them so significantly.
I move,
That the Parliament opposes the UK and Scottish governments’ jointly proposed reforms to the consenting process under the Electricity Act 1989, which risk silencing the voices of communities by removing the right to a public inquiry on consent decisions; notes with concern that the Scottish Government has allowed pylons and other electricity infrastructure to be built without the consent of local communities; acknowledges that community groups often do not have the resources to oppose electricity infrastructure, and calls on the Scottish Government to consider how this could be addressed, and implores both governments to abandon these plans and to ensure that community voices are at the heart of the consenting process going forward.