Inquiry ends at last – now long wait begins

AFTER four different locations, 105 days spread over 11 months, 300 witnesses, 17,295 objections, hundreds of documents and an estimated £10 million cost, Scotland's longest and most expensive public inquiry ended yesterday.

The hearing, into the controversial plans for a replacement power line from the Highlands to central Scotland, was brought to a close by reporter Timothy Brian, who took some 2,000 pages of hand-written notes.

Shortly after 1pm, he declared: "We have all earned a lengthy break when we can be reintroduced to our families. I wish you all a very good Christmas and I formally close the inquiry. Thank you."

For many it has not been worth it. The inquiry has been condemned for being too long, overly bureaucratic and failing to properly involve the public.

Further wayleave and compulsory purchase order hearings will be held in the new year and Mr Brian and his two fellow reporters will not submit their report and recommendations until the end of next year. Scottish ministers may not even take their advice when they reach a decision in 2009.

It is two and a half years since Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission (SHETL), a subsidiary of Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), and SP Transmission, a subsidiary of ScottishPower, published the proposed route for a 400,000-volt overhead electricity transmission line to replace the existing 132,000-volt line between Beauly, west of Inverness, and Denny, west of Falkirk. The 137-mile line, costing £350 million, is planned to take power from green energy developments in the Highlands and Islands to markets in the south. It would involve some 600 pylons – 200 fewer than those they would replace – but they would be 20 metres higher, at 67m (200ft).

After objections from the four planning authorities – Highland, Stirling, Falkirk and Perth and Kinross councils – an inquiry was called in August last year. There have also been objections from the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Clackmannanshire Council.

The inquiry opened in Perth on 6 February and has since moved to Inverness, Kingussie, back to Perth and, finally, to Stirling.

Mr Brian said it had been a "uniquely challenging" inquiry, adding: "We are satisfied all parties have had full opportunity to make their case and that the evidence has been robustly tested."

But the grindingly slow progress has done nothing to alleviate the complaints of some.

John Rennilson, Highland Council's planning director, who gave evidence three times, said: "It's been very disappointing. The council supports the transmission of renewable energy from the Highlands to the Central Belt, but the inquiry has got so bound up in bureaucracy. There surely must be a better way of resolving it than something that started on 6 February and finishes on 20 December.

"It's deemed to be a public local inquiry, but there are many days when either there are no members of the public there or you can count them on one hand because they cannot afford to devote that level of time.

"The whole principle is wrong. It doesn't bring credit to the planning system. It doesn't bring credit to anyone, and we must find a more straightforward way of determining these things.

"What gives less confidence is that when you think of these three reporters who have devoted a considerable amount of their time and they can still be overruled by politicians. That, in a sense, is untenable."

Mr Rennilson said a major missing party had been the regulator Ofgem, which approved SHETL's funding for the power line. "They gave the green light, but Ofgem did not take part in the inquiry or justify (the plan]," he said. "There was no opportunity to put Ofgem into the witness box."

The Beauly Denny Landscape Group, which includes the John Muir Trust (JMT), National Trust for Scotland and Ramblers Association Scotland, has described the inquiry as "not fit for purpose", as it had not properly addressed the need for the upgrade or a possible alternative sub-sea cable link.

Helen McDade, of the JMT, said: "The problem from the start has been that the thorniest aspects of the Beauly-Denny proposal are national issues, not suitable for examination in a public local inquiry.

"The new government urgently need to reassess whether this power line fits into an overall energy strategy. Clear alternatives to the line have not been given due consideration, such as sub-sea cables or going round the east coast."

SSE said the evidence from objectors had often been misinformed "as to the very detailed nature of the examination of their concerns that has been carried out by the applicants".

FOR

Line is vital for future needs of country's renewable energy

THE 137-mile power line is seen as vital to providing a network to carry electricity from green sources in the Highlands and Islands to the central belt.

According to Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), the amount of green energy that developers are contracting to connect is such that the existing capacity is inadequate.

It argues that the construction of the replacement transmission line will provide more reliable capacity for about 2,300 megawatts of green energy and will form a basis for growth in the long term.

SSE says it has spent five years on environmental and technical studies and consultation on the plans and believes they are well founded. The line, it says, is both necessary and cost-effective.

It is claimed the line is vital for the future energy needs of Scotland as it will help the country achieve its renewable energy targets and make a contribution towards climate change.

There are currently 78 projects in Scotland representing a capacity of 5,314MW, with an investment value of £5 billion. Without Beauly-Denny, it is argued, much of this will not go beyond the planning stage.

SSE has argued that it has chosen the best route possible for the proposed overhead line. Putting parts of the line underground, as demanded by opponents, would mean re-evaluating the whole scheme. It is estimated that burying a five-mile stretch would add up to £90 million to the overall cost.

The route is designed to avoid – as far as possible – properties and areas of environmental sensitivity. SSE says 90 residential properties are within 100 metres of the existing line, while only four are within that distance from the proposed line. It also says the line does not encroach on any national scenic areas.

The line will pass the boundary of the Cairngorms National Park, but SSE says while the existing pylon line goes through 36km of the park, using 128 pylons, the new line would go through 28km on 76 pylons. It crosses the A9 three times compared to the present line's 12.

Regarding the line going underground, the company says a study commissioned by Highland Council and Scottish Natural Heritage showed that option does not offer the same level of availability as an overhead line, prolonged faults are more frequent and take longer to repair.

It is argued that only 7 per cent of tourism businesses would be affected by more than 15 per cent.

AGAINST

An 'unnecessary act of vandalism' that will harm tourism

WHILE most support the principle of renewable energy, opponents say the overhead line is unnecessary to meet carbon reduction targets.

They say the proposed line and associated wind power developments are the largest industrial developments ever seen in the Highlands, bigger even than the hydro-electric schemes of the 20th century.

They claim the economic case for the power line is flawed and that the costs of constraining wind power off the grid if the line is not built have been over-estimated.

The Beauly Denny Landscape Group said: "The proposed power line is justified by Ofgem on a purely economic 'cost and convenience' basis. There is no assessment of the sustainability of the proposal in a wider economic, social and environmental context.

"We need to look at solutions which will both reduce carbon emissions and protect Scotland's valued scenic heritage. There are other ways to exploit Scotland's renewable energy potential without inflicting great damage on its exceptional landscape.

"Developing onshore wind farms in remote locations and transmitting power over long distances is not as sustainable environmentally and socially as exploiting sources closer to the points of consumption.

"Increased production in the north can be accommodated by alternative means of managing the system, or even by reinforcing the east coast transmission line."

The group says that with the prospect of more offshore wind and marine renewables being promoted by the government, subsea cabling is an attractive proposition for bulk electricity transfer to centres of demand where high voltage connections already exist.

"In order to develop marine renewables, we do not need this massive infrastructure development through difficult terrain far inland from the coast."

One of the biggest bones of contention is the sheer scale of the pylons. Many would be as tall as the Scott monument in Edinburgh. It is claimed they would spoil the iconic scenery, threaten the environment, harm tourism, affect property prices and possibly present a health hazard.

Campaigners want most, if not all, of the line to be buried to limit its impact or a subsea cable to be used to take power to the main markets in the south.

Simon Fraser, the 16th Lord Lovat, told the inquiry in June that the proposed route, which goes close to his clan seat, would blight the landscape and harm tourism. Sir John Lister Kaye, a leading environmentalist, said the developers' assessment of the environmental impact of the proposal was "superficial".

Archie Stirling, leader of Scottish Voice, said the project would leave a scar on the countryside and damage the country's tourism industry.

The plan was also attacked as an "unnecessary act of vandalism" in a joint statement by Professor Andrew Bain, a former board member of Scottish Enterprise, Sir Donald Miller, a former chairman of ScottishPower, and Colin Gibson, a former power network director of the National Grid Group.

Others raised concerns about the possible impact of high- voltage overhead transmission lines and electric and magnetic fields on health.