THE Scottish Government faced a chorus of criticism last night after it decided it would be too costly to lay a section of the proposed 137-mile £600 million Beauly to Denny powerline underground.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing told MSPs it would cost £263m for ScottishPower to place nine miles of the line beneath the countryside near Stirling, close to the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle.
It was claimed ScottishPower would need sealing end compounds the size of a football pitch at points where it was placed underground, causing a significant impact on the landscape in their own right. Mr Ewing added it would have meant higher electricity bills.
Political opponents and campaigners said the decision showed the Government was riding roughshod over the community's determination to protect the local landscape.
As part of the 2010 planning consent for the 400kv line and its 600 pylons, the developers had to prepare plans to mitigate the visual impact on the area.
ScottishPower's first attempts were rejected but yesterday Mr Ewing said he had approved plans for four-and-a-half miles of the existing line between Fallin and Glenbervie to be put underground at a cost of £12.9m and wider environmental and landscape improvements in the Stirling area.
Caroline Paterson, of Stirling Before Pylons said the measures were "a complete insult" to residents who have campaigned for the past seven years to protect what is precious about Stirling's stunning setting.
She added: "To desecrate a precious and well-used landscape on the one hand, while offering a few cycle paths with the other, is incredulous and should be mocked for the insult it is."
Callum Campbell, chairman of Stirling Council's Beauly-Denny Power Line Steering Group, said: "Localised tower painting and some screen planting will not detract from the presence of 60-metre-high pylons crossing a relatively flat landscape"
Former Scotland rugby star Kenny Logan said he would sell his farm near the Wallace monument. He added: "Driving people out of their homes is unforgiveable."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article