PLANS to install 50 metre-high electricity pylons close to the battlefield of Culloden and other national heritage sites have drawn sharp criticism from the National Trust for Scotland.

The proposals have been made by Scottish and Southern Energy as part of its Beauly-Blackhillock-Kintore Reinforcement Project, which is intended to improve the reliability of the power network in Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands.

But the NTS said it was “unacceptable” that in the case of Culloden it was proposed there would be three overhead lines passing through the glen within around a mile of each other. It accused the energy giant of coming up with the “cheapest, least imaginative and most damaging options possible”.

An The NTS say the amended boundary would mean that pylons would be constructed “in close proximity” to Culloden battlefield and the nearby 4,000 year-old Clava Cairns east of Inverness, said the NTS.

In a statement yesterday, the NTS the National Trust said: “As Scotland’s leading conservation charity we’re concerned about unacceptable proposals to construct a run of 50-metre high electricity pylons close to some of the nation’s most important heritage.”

“Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSE PD) had opened up a second stage of consultation on its plans to construct the pylons as part of the Beauly-Blackhillock-Kintore Reinforcement Project.

“The new consultation was necessary because of amendments made to the ‘preferred’ route as was originally consulted upon in 2015.”

The NTS say the amended boundary would mean that pylons would be constructed “in close proximity” to Culloden Battlefield and the nearby 4,000 year-old Clava Cairns east of Inverness.

Other sites which would be affected by the pylons, say the NTS, include Castle Fraser and Leith Hall in Aberdeenshire, both of which are run by the Trust.

Other sites that would be affected by the pylons, said the NTS, include the 4,000 year-old Clava Cairns east of Inverness and Castle Fraser and Leith Hall in Aberdeenshire, both of which it runs.

NTS chief executive Simon Skinner wrote to SSE to complain over its plans, saying: “Our own research has found that overhead power lines are identified by both our members and the wider public as one of the most significant factors in degrading valued landscapes. Yesterday heSkinner added: “I completely understand that the country needs to upgrade its capacity to transmit electricity. What disappoints me with this scheme is that SSE seems to be coming up with the cheapest, least imaginative and most damaging options possible.

“Scotland is a country rich in history and natural heritage and these help define us internationally and sustain a significant part of our economy through tourism.

“SSE should not be putting forward proposals that jeopardise this. SSE made over half a billion pounds of profit last year, much of it coming from levies that have been applied to the energy bills of ordinary Scots.

“At the very least they have an obligation to minimise the impact of their proposals on the nation’s cherished places.”