Power firm apologises over ‘ignored’ Minard cottage
As a major project to renew pylons and power lines gets underway across Mid Argyll, one family has complained they were not told the diggers were about to arrive near their home.
Mandy Munro lives with husband Douglas and two primary school-age children at Gallanach, a cottage high in the hills behind the Loch Fyne-side village of Minard.
‘It was Tuesday October 15 that the first machinery started to arrive up our road and we knew nothing about it,’ claimed Mrs Munro.
She claims the access road to their home from the A83 trunk road has been left in a ‘shocking state’.
The Munro family has lived at the cottage since July 2019 and is working to renovate the property.
The stress of renovating a home while living in it has been compounded by Mrs Munro’s fears over her children’s health.
‘My five-year-old son goes to school in Furnace and has allergies and an asthmatic condition,’ said Mrs Munro. ‘What happens if there is an emergency and there is a delay because of the road?’
The company behind the power line renewal project, SSEN Transmission, told the Advertiser the road had been in the process of being considerably upgraded and undertook to ensure clear access in any emergency.
Mrs Munro added: ‘When we complained to SSEN Transmission about not being told about the start of the work, they told us they didn’t know we were here, but we have a handwritten note from them dated July 2018 about another matter – so they did know.’
A spokesperson for SSEN Transmission said: ‘We recently visited the resident to apologise we hadn’t notified them prior to works commencing, which was due to us not being aware their property was inhabited.
‘Now that we have established contact, we remain committed to keeping the resident and the wider community updated with our planned activities and will do all we can to minimise our impact and keep disruption to a minimum.’
The project to upgrade the electricity transmission network between Inveraray and Crossaig, Kintyre, is due to the age of the current infrastructure and to enable renewable energy projects to be connected.
The first phase of the project – from Inveraray to Port Ann – is scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.