By Martin Collier BBC News Online Scotland

The pylons will stretch across some beauty spots

A decision to switch the route of a controversial power line has failed to cool the anger of protesters who say it will transform parts of the landscape from the Highlands to Central Scotland.

Electricity chiefs have published the full details of a new proposed route for the 400,000 volt super-pylons, which will march across the countryside from outside Inverness to the Forth Valley.

The pylons will transport electricity from renewable sources such as wind farms.

But while the power company's decision has meant relief for scores of objectors, the change of plan has sparked fury among fresh critics who now find themselves in the new path of the proposed line.

Guy 'Santa' Spurway grows Christmas trees and hosts shooting parties on his 480-acre Wester Cambushinnie farm, outside Dunblane.

He was a fund manager in the City of London until he returned to the family farm two years ago for a better quality of life.

I'll lose the whole lot and it's pretty much all my income Guy Spurway Concerned resident

He now leads an action group in the area, where objectors are furious that the pylons, more than 10 times the height of a double decker bus, are being moved away from the neighbouring village of Braco - to a route next to the small community of Kinbuck.

He said: "My shooting business will be completely demolished. I'll lose the whole lot and it's pretty much all my income. It's not an exaggeration - I'll be forced out of my shooting business completely."

Mr Spurway fears there are health risks associated with the power line and said his Christmas tree business would also be threatened if the bulldozers moved in to tear a path through his trees.

"If I raised a family and one of my children contracted leukaemia, I'd never be able to live with myself. I might as well shoot myself because I could have moved and it wouldn't have happened," he said.

Wallace Monument

"I came here for a different way of life. The whole thing has thrown a spanner in the works."

A few miles to the north, Michael Aldridge is the manager of the 60,000-acre Drummond Estate, near Crieff.

He said: "Our main concerns are the effect on landscape and conservation. It will make a huge impact on a prime conservation area.

"The cable would cut through the core capercaillie area. It would be pretty devastating to the landscape."

Michael Aldridge has conservation concerns

To the south, the giant towers will run across the historic battlefield of Sheriffmuir - before passing within less than one mile of the national Wallace Monument in the centre of Braveheart country - overlooking the village of Blairlogie, outside Stirling.

Protesters' spokesman Peter Pearson claims the power line would be sited within 50 metres of one house in the area.

He pledged: "There will be as much criticism of the new route as there was of the old one."

The row has been sparked by the decision by Scottish Executive ministers to produce 40% of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind farms, by 2020 - twice the UK's target.

The power line - with pylons every 300 metres - is aimed at carrying green electricity from Beauly in the north, to Denny in the central belt.

MSPs this week called for a shift from wind farms to wave and tidal power.

To put a line of this particularly high voltage underground would require a trench the width of a motorway and would raise the cost Dr Keith MacLean Scottish and Southern Electricity

Expert in Environmental Economics at Glasgow University, Professor Nick Hanley, described the views of the enterprise committee as "pretty sensible".

He said: "If the Scottish Executive hits its 40% target it would likely be producing the highest percentage of renewable energy in the EU. The target is also very ambitious at the global scale.

"Unless we manage to reduce the cost of offshore wind farms or realise significant tidal energy investments, it is not clear how we will hit this 40% target at present."

Prof Hanley added: "What is driving the development of on-shore wind farms is the profit motive, spurred by Renewable Obligation Credits, or 'green credits', which are a pretty massive incentive for the private sector.

"One of the unfortunate things about current wind farm construction is that there is no overall national strategy for where we put these things."

The 160-mile power line, costing �200m, is being built by Perth-based Scottish and Southern Electricity - which describes itself as Britain's leader in renewable energy.

The proposals have sparked a huge debate

Business development manager, Keith MacLean, said: "For over 75% of the route there have been no major problems.

"Some people think it's a good thing. We have listened and made changes. Other people think it's horrible. Wherever the line goes there's a potential effect."

Dr MacLean added: "To put a line of this particularly high voltage underground would require a trench the width of a motorway and would raise the cost.

"If there was a danger, it would not be allowed.

"We have made significant changes to the route to try to come up with something better."

And he warned: "Don't put us in a Catch 22 position, where we're damned if we do and damned if we don't."

Company bosses have pencilled in September as the deadline for their final planned route, before councils examine it.

Work on the pylons could start in 2005.