Meeting of the Parliament 10 February 2026 [Draft]
I, too, thank Finlay Carson for securing the debate. It is really important that we discuss these issues, particularly, as other members have said and as is stated clearly in the motion, when constituents raise such issues with us.
Rural communities understand how important the move to net zero is and, in my experience, they want to be part of the solution. As with many other changes, though, there are times when people feel that changes fall on their shoulders alone. However, I have also seen very good examples of people, communities, Governments and companies working together, and that must be the way in which we move forward.
We know that there are plans to substantially upgrade the existing electricity transmission network in Great Britain—other members have mentioned that—with companies planning to invest more than £10 billion in their networks in Scotland in the coming years. By some estimates, there are plans to build five times more transmission networks in the next 12 years than have been built in the past 30 years, so it is understandable that communities are considering and thinking about that—and are worried.
The building of the infrastructure and the changes that it will bring raise many issues that we must consider. Who are the companies? What are we doing to engage communities? How do we seek to ensure that community wealth building comes with that investment? How do we ensure that local communities see benefit from the often intrusive nature of infrastructure change?
Like other members, I am sure that our communities understand the complexities, and they spend a lot of time trying to understand the systems. However, although they really want to get involved in shaping the future, the current legislation and systems can be quite confusing. Communities care about the environment around them, and, without involving them in decisions, it is difficult to see how we will meet the targets that have been set out, which we all agree must be met.
While I have the opportunity, I want to mention a group in the South Scotland region that has been working closely with communities to bring people together and to develop outcomes, including community payback schemes, which are helpful for people. The 9CC Group in Ayrshire is a charitable organisation formed by nine local community councils to manage, administer and distribute community benefit funds that have been generated by wind farms across the Cumnock and Doon Valley area. The community councils have come together so that they can look at the management of funds and the strategic investment around infrastructure building, and consider how to support and empower communities.
I understand that that group is looking at one part of wind farms, but, as different infrastructure programmes go forward, some of the structures around them might be helpful for how we work with our communities. As the cabinet secretary said in her intervention on Tim Eagle, it is desirable that many of those projects work with their local communities, but we probably need to be more robust about the way in which we engage with communities.
I see that I am coming to the end of my time, so I again thank Finlay Carson for giving us the opportunity to talk about the issue and about how we get the legislation to a point at which communities find it easy to navigate and can be fully involved in every part of infrastructure planning and meeting the net zero targets, with community wealth building in place around them.