Concerns taken directly to power company

MSP Mairi Gougeon and Andrew Bowie MP put their own and constituents’ concerns to SSEN directly.

Angus North and Mearns MSP Mairi Gougeon has met with senior SSEN staff to relay their constituents’ concerns regarding the proposed powerline upgrades and substation proposals in Angus and the Mearns.

She was joined at the meeting by Andrew Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. Both made it clear that the proposals have seen an unprecedented rise in constituent complaints to their respective inboxes.

The parliamentarians asked about the consultation process, questioned SSEN’s engagement strategy and detailed the wide range of concerns both have received. A detailed list of questions has also been put to SSEN for a full response.

The company acknowledged that engagement should have been better but that the process is still ongoing and at an early stage. They are encouraging people to get in touch directly with them through their consultation portal at www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/news/news--views/2023/5/kintore-fiddes-tealing-400kv-consultation-period-extended/

Ms Gougeon said: “Both Andrew and I have been inundated with complaints about the way SSEN have handled their engagement so far, with concerns about the process, lack of meaningful engagement and fears that decisions have already been made about the routing and siting of both the power line and substation.

“I remain seriously concerned that people are still contacting me everyday having only just found out about the proposals.

“That is why both myself and Andrew have prepared communications to send out to communities across our respective constituency areas to make them aware of the projects and outline how they can make their views known.”

Mr Bowie added: “Even though SSEN recently extended the deadline for consultation, the detail of what’s proposed is only just dawning on some communities along the transmission route. I’m seeing more public meetings every week, and the amount of correspondence from constituents is only growing with each passing day. Engagement has been below the level of what we would expect for such a major project.”