Andrew has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, Mairi McAllan MSP, regarding the proposed SSEN 400KV Overhead Line and associated infrastructure.
He asks the Cabinet Secretary to outline how the Scottish Government will be using its fully devolved powers over planning and consenting to stop the current plans for pylons on Deeside and the Mearns, along with the Hill of Fare windfarm being built.
In his letter Andrew highlights the ongoing industrialisation of the Scottish countryside in his West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency and that many of his constituents feel let down by the Scottish Government.
They believe that the Scottish Government are enabling and encouraging drastic, fast paced and poorly thought through changes to rural Scotland’s landscape.
Andrew expressed his concern that the Scottish Government and Crown Estate ScotWind Auctions have awarded a substantial number of licenses to companies with a total offshore wind capacity of 27.6GW by 2030. Significantly more than the 2030 target of 11GW.
Andrew said “I am concerned this was done without any appreciation for the onshore transmission required to deliver. Furthermore, this has placed a tremendous strain on transmission operators to deliver additional network capacity in an unrealistically short timeframe. This means that plans are presented earlier than would be considered prudent, and crucially that constituents have less time to feedback in consultation to any proposals put forward.”
He also adds “It is clear that the Scottish Government thinks it is appropriate for the burden of nearly all of this onshore infrastructure to fall on the North & North East of Scotland. My constituents in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine will be particularly impacted. That is unacceptable.”
You can read his full letter below.
