THE announcement by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) that it is broadly following its preferred options for its devastating pylon lines and substations was not surprising, but was distressing for so many.
The energy company metaphorically kicked rural residents while they were already down, struggling to comprehend what their own government was encouraging to be done to them.
What is crystal clear is that the north of Scotland is being sacrificed not only for England but for energy export and that will swell the coffers of Big Energy such as SSE/SSEN, NOT the Scottish people.
Scotland officially needs 9GW of electricity by the winter of 2042, double what it has now. It is already on the way to constructing and producing 72GW from wind alone with yet more proposed. That is eight times our requirement and only 28GW less than the 100GW Ofgem predict the whole UK will need in 20 years’ time.
With the costs of this new infrastructure and potential payments to rural communities to accept living near this industrialisation being loaded on to energy bills, fuel poverty can only get worse.
Are these “compensation” payments to be given to those who will be living in the shadow of 200-metre-plus wind turbines that are coming forward to hook into SSEN’s “preferred” option? What about those already forced into living with industrial wind developments?
Make no mistake, the overhead lines that will rip through Scotland north to south and west to east are for more onshore wind turbines. If it was merely about transporting electricity to the rest of the UK then they could subsea it and save themselves years of controversy and costs to the consumer.
Campaign groups are determined to take on this multinational and refuse to be flung under Big Energy’s gravy train by their own government endorsing ludicrous levels of unnecessary energy generation in iconic Scottish landscapes. Are these new lines and substations even needed? We must be told exactly what net zero means for us and when we in Scotland will know when we have reached it.
If the evidence is finally produced then, and only then, should the least destructive solution irrespective of cost be put forward for consideration. The electrification of our lives is going to have massive consequences for the poor and the vulnerable. The likes of SSEN and parent company SSE will make a healthy profit on the backs of UK consumers.
SSEN state 400 jobs will be created. Will they be local? Will they be permanent? They came from Malaysia for the Beauly-Denny line. A supermarket would offer more employment in the location it is built in, so that’s nothing for this multinational to crow about.
The provision of 200 properties is deeply troubling. What bright spark thought it appropriate for a private company to offer services that should be provided by the local authority? The same authority that deals with the planning applications from said company? If SSEN is offering jobs for locals, why do they need to provide accommodation anyway?
If our councils were not so strapped for cash because of Scottish Government underfunding they would be able to afford housing for its people without accepting distasteful and immoral “offerings” by those more concerned about their bottom line than the rural people devastated by their dominating infrastructure. The Scottish Government should not underestimate the fury they have unleashed across rural Scotland.
Lyndsey Ward
Spokesperson, Communities B4 Power Companies
AFTER the recent disinformation about the state of Scottish education, the news that Scottish students across all levels are performing better in literacy and numeracy compared to last year is welcome.
The Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels uses teacher judgment to report the proportion of students reaching targets for their grade level and the 2022/23 results show a rise in attainment levels across all primary grades and S3 since 2021/22. The other piece of good news is that the attainment gap between students from the most and least deprived areas has narrowed across the board, marking the second year of improvement since the pandemic. In fact, students in 2022/23 did better than in 2018/19, the last time data was collected, demonstrating a clear rise in standards above pre-pandemic levels.
I’m betting these results won’t be plastered across the Scottish media like the Pisa ones were. I wonder if Gillian Keegan, the English Education Secretary, will be asked to comment, or Anas Sarwar, manager of English Labour’s Scottish branch office.
Scots are subjected to a daily avalanche of negativity from the Unionist press that will only stop when we kick out the English political parties, end the dead-end devolution settlement and declare independence from a foreign nation that has plundered our resources, denigrated our language, culture and people, and sapped our confidence.
Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh
THE UK Government gave £140 million to Rwanda in 2022. On December 7, the Home Office’s top civil servant confirmed that a further £100m was given to the country in 2023, with a further payment of £50m anticipated in 2024.
The UK will give France almost £500m over three years to help stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
Rwanda and France must be rubbing their hands with delight at these windfalls, and still the small boats keep coming. How much more taxpayer’s money will the government give away to solve this problem?
It is way past time that Scotland regains her independence to get away from this shambolic government.
Gordon Walker
Paisley
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