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Campaigners welcome rejection of controversial substation plans

News imageBBC Donna Peacock is standing outside in a green space with trees and the waters of the Beauly Firth beyond. She has fair hair which is tied up and is wearing a brown jacket over a blouse with a floral print.BBC
Donna Peacock, of Kiltarlity Community Council, said local residents feared an "industrialisation" of a green space

Highland communities and campaigners have welcomed a council decision to refuse planning permission for major new electricity infrastructure at Fanellan, near Beauly.

Energy company SSEN Transmission plans to build a substation and a converter station had already received almost 2,000 public objections.

Council planning officers, who recommended approval of the plans, said SSEN Transmission needed it to help distribute power.

After councillors unanimously voted against the plans, Kiltarlity Community Council's Donna Peacock said: "This is a massively wonderful result."

SSEN Transmission said will appeal to the Scottish government against the councillors' decision.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We are disappointed by this decision, which goes against the recommendation of the council's planning team."

News imageSSEN Transmission An illustration of the proposed substation. The site is the shape of a long grey rectangle with a smaller brown rectangle shape on top. There are a number of grey electricity towers on the site.SSEN Transmission
An illustration of the planned facility near Beauly

The Scottish government will be asked to make a final decision on the project.

If given the go-ahead, the scheme would take about three years to construct and could be operational in 2030.

The facility would be used as part of the existing Beauly to Denny powerline, and connections for electricity generated in the Western Isles in the future.

Councillors on Highland Council's south planning applications committee voted unanimously to refuse consent.

Peacock added: "Being unanimous was just the icing on the cake. It was the right decision.

"The industrialisation of the area would bring in overhead lines and also all the traffic that would be in the vicinity."

Lyndsey Ward, founder of campaign group Communities B4 Power Companies, said "thrilled" that councillors had listened to local communities.

She said: "It couldn't have gone any better. It was an appalling application."

Ward added: "There's so many unanswered questions. They need to find a brownfield site close to a major road network and reschedule it."

Bill Smart, vice chairman of Glen Urquhart Community Council, said renewable projects were needed but claimed SSEN Transmission had not listened to local concerns.

He said: "They seemed to push it through. The choice of equipment in the substation could have been made a lot smaller quite easily, but they ignored that as well.

"So, all in all, I think it's a good result, and hopefully they'll come back with a much better proposal."

SSEN Transmission said the project had been developed in line with all relevant policies and legislation, "balancing community and environmental considerations with technical and economic factors".

The spokesperson said Fanellan substation was "at the heart" of its critical infrastructure upgrades that were required in the north of Scotland, and was important in terms of jobs.

They added: "We remain committed to working constructively with stakeholders and communities and will now review today's decision, with a view to lodging an appeal."