The Pylons Saga: the end of the inquiry

The long-running public inquiry into the proposals for the Beauly – Denny power line upgrade finally drew to a close just before Christmas. It finished with five intense weeks of closely argued debate about all the issues affecting the Stirling area. Friends of the Ochils worked with Stirling Before Pylons to lead 17 witnesses, on topics ranging from hills to history to health, and the alternative of putting the line underground throughout the Stirling area. Anyone interested in our evidence, and others’, can find it all on the official website: www.beaulydenny.co.uk

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), backed by Stirling Council, put up an excellent and feisty case on the landscape issues, arguing that, above all, it would be inappropriate to route the line down the scarp slope of the Ochils at Logie.
SNH led the case for undergrounding throughout the area, having identified a feasible route to the west of Stirling. The applicants’ technical witnesses accepted that undergrounding would be both perfectly feasible and environmentally acceptable. The big issue is whether or not the costs of doing this – up to an additional £300 million – would be acceptable. Obviously, this would be a massive investment, but we believe it is well justified by avoiding all the environmental, social and economic costs, and we know that the price is affordable, as it would be paid over a 20-year period by all the consumers of electricity throughout the UK.

We also believe that a more radical alternative could be to use a sub-sea transmission grid, which could greatly reduce the need for overland power line upgrades, but this was largely outwith the remit of the inquiry.

A very important feature of the five weeks of hearings in Stirling was the presence each day of a number of members of the public, boosting the confidence of all of us giving evidence, and giving the clear message to the Reporters that the issues are of considerable concern to many people. It was really encouraging to see a number of Friends of the Ochils there – a big thank you to those who came along!

And now we just have to wait. After such a huge amount of evidence – some 300 witnesses appeared during the whole inquiry – the Reporters have a massive job to do, pulling it all together, coming to a decision and, most of all, writing it all up. They don’t expect to be publishing their report until late in the year. Once the report is out, it will then be up to Scottish Ministers to make the final decision about what to do. At that time, we may be calling on you again to lobby your elected representatives, but for now enjoy the coming summer, and enjoy your Ochils!

Nicki Baker
FotO Chair