YOUR VIEWS: Are power lines needed and looking after pets this festive season
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How much power infrastructure do we need?
SSEN’s recent announcement that they are broadly following their preferred options for their devastating pylon lines and substations was not surprising but distressing for so many. They metaphorically kicked rural residents while they were already down struggling to comprehend what their own government was encouraging to be done to them.
What is crystal clear is that the north of Scotland is being sacrificed not only for England but for energy export and that will swell the coffers of Big Energy like SSE/SSEN NOT the Scottish people.
Scotland officially needs 9GW by the winter of 2042, double what it has now. It is already on the way to constructing and producing 72GW from wind alone with yet more proposed. That is eight times our requirement and only 28GW less than the 100GW Ofgem predict the whole UK will need in 20 years’ time.
With the costs of this new infrastructure and potential bribes to rural communities to accept living near this industrialisation being loaded onto energy bills fuel poverty can only get worse.
Are these ‘compensation’ payments to be given to those who will be living in the shadow of wind turbines that are coming forward to hook into SSEN’s ‘preferred’ option? What about those already forced into living with industrial wind developments?
Make no mistake the overhead lines that will rip through Scotland north to south and west to east are for more onshore wind turbines. If it was merely about transporting electricity to the rest of the UK then they could subsea it and save themselves years of controversy and costs to the consumer. Campaign groups are determined to take this multinational on and refuse to be flung under Big Energy’s gravy train by their own government endorsing ludicrous levels of unnecessary energy generation in iconic Scottish landscapes.
Are these new lines and substations even needed? We must be told exactly what net zero means for us and when we in Scotland will know when we have reached it. If the evidence is finally produced then, and only then, should the least destructive solution irrespective of cost be put forward for consideration.
The electrification of our lives is going to have massive consequences for the poor and the vulnerable. The likes of SSEN and parent company SSE will make a healthy profit on the backs of UK consumers.
SSEN state 400 jobs will be created. Will they be local? Will they be permanent? A supermarket would offer more employment in the location it is built in so that’s nothing for this multinational to crow about.
The provision of 200 properties is deeply troubling. What bright spark thought it appropriate for a private company to offer services that should be provided by the local authority? The same authority that deals with the planning applications from said company?
If SSEN is offering jobs for locals why do they need to provide accommodation anyway?
If our councils were not so strapped for cash because of Scottish Government underfunding they would be able to afford housing for its people without accepting distasteful and immoral ‘offerings’ by those more concerned about their bottom line than the rural people devastated by their dominating infrastructure.
The Scottish Government should not underestimate the fury they have unleashed across rural Scotland.
Lyndsey Ward
Spokeswoman for Communities B4 Power Companies
Help animal charity provide festive care
PDSA is appealing for support so that we can continue to help keep people and pets together this Christmas.
Our charity provides free and low cost vet care for owners who are struggling to afford the treatment costs for their sick and injured pets.
The cost-of-living crisis is hitting hard meaning many people are struggling – nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of the owners we help have used a food bank for them or their family over the last 12 months.
With basic essentials such as food unaffordable for so many, our vital, life-saving services are needed now more than ever.
In December 2022 our dedicated teams treated more than 53,000 pets, and performed over 2300 operations.
In fact, we treat 10 pets every minute!
But in the last 12 months there has been an estimated 1.6 per cent increase in people receiving benefits, meaning many more people are now eligible for our charitable veterinary services.
This equates to an additional 83,000 people who may turn to us, desperate for help in their time of need.
Our pets give us so much unconditional love and companionship, but without our help thousands of people could suffer a devastating loss because they can’t afford vital treatment for their pet.
We don’t receive any government funding, relying entirely on generous public support to keep our 48 Pet Hospitals open.
Please donate today and together we can help save pets’ lives this Christmas – pdsa.org.uk/together-this-winter
Nina Downing
PDSA vet nurse
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