Pylon comments will all be read, say power bosses

The SP Energy Networks’ (SPEN) consultation on a giant pylon corridor between Auchencrosh in Ayrshire and Harker near Carlisle ended on Monday.
And the Dumfries and Galloway Strategic Reinforcement Project team will now analyse all the comments. A detailed consultation report will be published later this year revealing which areas will go forward to the next stage of the routing process.
SPEN project manager Colin Brown said that, although the scheme is ‘essential’ to modernise and upgrade the region’s ageing and undersized electricity transmission network, the views of local people are critical.
He said: “This is a big project and we need to know what people think. The response has been very encouraging. We have met more than 700 people face-to-face at ten public exhibitions, plus many more who have attended community council meetings.
“To make sure we develop the scheme with local concerns and ideas firmly in mind, every word of the feedback now needs to be scrutinised. Until we’ve analysed the consultation responses and carried out more studies we don’t know if the areas we’ve identified are the right ones to take forward.”
Meanwhile, 35 community councils from across the region have agreed a combined objection.
In a joint letter, they said: “We, many of the community councils affected, have considered the proposal, and unanimously reject it as wholly unacceptable.”
They call for pylons to be ruled out, but have offered to work with SPEN to find an acceptable solution.
And MSPs Elaine Murray and Joan McAlpine have both urged SPEN consider undergrounding the project, or re-using the current route.
Dr Murray said: “I am not convinced that the current pylons need to be replaced by such large structures, and have suggested that SPEN pursue under sea and underground cabling. I know they are resistant to these suggestions as they are more expensive and maintenance is more difficult, but the views of local residents must come before cost.”
Ms McAlpine added: “It would seem the lesser of two evils to upgrade pylons where they already exist in the landscape.
“Given the scale of this project and the enormity of what is at stake for the affected communities, undergrounding in this case warrants serious consideration.”