Unwanted pylons may land at celebrity’s door
If controversial plans for 52 more pylons in Dalmally go ahead, one would be just feet away from TV personality Clive Anderson’s holiday cottage.
The celebrity has asked No More Pylons for Dalmally campaigners to keep him in the loop. Villagers battling plans for 52 new pylons running through the area say power developer Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) cannot justify the move.
Co-lead campaigner Julian Penney told community councillors at a recent meeting that SSEN had cut off all communication but ‘troops’ were now being rallied to escalate action.
Details are being kept under wraps but Mr Penney said the community refused to be ‘treated like mushrooms’. Speaking to The Oban Times, Mr Penney said SSEN’s case for the pylon towers, adding to the 29 already in place, was ‘not stacking up’ and residents would do everything in their power to save their dramatic scenery from being decimated. There are also serious health concerns, he said.
‘They think they are dealing with a load of banjo players in the hills but this campaign is going forward. We are rallying the troops and are looking at all avenues open to us to escalate our action,’ he said. ‘Clive Anderson has a holiday home near here and if the pylons go ahead one would be about 150ft away from it. He’s not pleased about it and has asked to be kept in the loop.
‘At some point SSEN will have to put in a planning application but when they do, it’s going to be tough to get it through. It will have to go through the Scottish Government’s energy minister. They are not going to allow pylons across this landscape. There are nine projects across the UK where power companies and the National Grid are taking down pylons and putting cables underground – Exmoor, Dartmoor and the Lake District. Just 17 miles away in the Loch Lomond National Park they are taking down 17 pylons. We might not be in a national park here but our vista, the scenery, is just as dramatic.’
Argyll and Bute MSP Michael Russell is backing the campaign and has told SSEN that if it wants new power lines, then they should go underground. However, Mr Penney said: ‘Their advisors are saying under Loch Awe is too shallow. That’s complete rubbish. It is doable. I’ve asked them who are their consultants but they have cut off all communication. I don’t even know if the table-top exercise they say they’ve done exists at all.’
A SSEN spokesman said its underground cabling options were still being assessed and a proposed final solution had not been determined yet.
‘We remain committed to engaging openly and meaningfully with the local community, elected representatives and other stakeholders as we continue to take forward the project,’ he said.