Lovat Shinty Club to turn down SSEN donations amidst concerns over expansion of substation plans
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A Highland shinty club issued a statement announcing they will refuse donations from energy giant SSEN.
Lovat Shinty Club shared an official communication on their social media channels today after criticism stemmed from a donation from the energy giant to sponsor the recent club's U14's trip to Stornoway.
This comes after anti-windfarm campaigners hit out at the power giant after claiming plans for a new substation at Fanellan, near Kiltarlity, will be 14 times larger than originally proposed – despite SSEN denying these changes.
The statement reads: "In light of the recent announcements and the substantial increase in scale of the proposed development at Fanellan we can confirm that the club will not accept donations from SSEN.
"We have since retracted our acceptance of the Stornoway trip donation, and confirm that no monies have been received.
"The donation was offered, and was accepted by the club, a number of weeks before the Fanellan announcement was made, and we recognize the unfortunate timing of the U14s trip social media post has potentially been inflammatory to those affected and the wider community.
"Since the SSEN proposals affect many of the people who support and are involved with the club, we confirm that we will not accept donations from SSEN, and that this is the correct action.
"We trust this statement clarifies our position, and offer apologies for our part in this unfortunate issue."
Lyndsey Ward, of Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) told the Inverness Courier earlier this week that that residents in the area are "reeling" after receiving correspondence from the developer which she claims show the proposed substation will now be more than 860 acres in size – far in excess of the 60 acres mentioned less than a year ago.
SSEN has strongly refuted suggestions that the substation had changed by anything close to what Ms Ward claims, explaining that the area marked in red is part of normal planning processes – a PAN boundary – and highlights the wider site and not the footprint of the final substation.
