The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Powerline plans to hit Angus ecocampsite
The family behind Angus’s first eco-campsite have spoken out against “devastating” proposals to route a powerline over their business.
Kate Latham and her husband Stig opened Greenhillock Glamping in 2016, building on Kate’s parents’ 25 years rewilding their remote farmland.
But the family were dismayed to discover one proposed route for the overhead Angus powerline cuts across their business, threatening a lifetime of work.
Kate said they first learned of the plan from a neighbour in late February.
She said: “The proposal could see the destruction of our beautiful meadows, significant disturbance to the native habitat we have spent years creating and, ultimately, the closure of our business.”
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Transmission (SSEN Transmission) plans will see a replacement 132kv Angus powerline running from west of Aberdeen to Tealing, north of Dundee.
The company has proposed three main routes for the replacement line.
The options skirt Brechin and cut through the Angus countryside between Forfar and Arbroath.
SSEN argues the line is essential to plug renewable energy schemes in the north-east of Scotland to the grid.
The string of 27m steel lattice towers will replace a largely wooden pole-based line.
Kate has been campaigning against one proposal, known as route one, since she learned of the plans.
At least 137 customers and staff members have since backed her and written to the company.
She added: “From the get-go, we have been passionate about bringing
a responsible, sustainable, eco-tourism business to Angus and providing a viable future for the land at Greenhillock.
“Over the past six years we have more than achieved this vision.
“Route one would reverse more than 25 years of rewilding.
“It would destroy an enterprise which is putting Angus on the map as a tourism destination and ruin my family’s livelihood.”
Many agree, including former employee Shona Varney, who said: “The family who have nurtured this land since the time it was just another arable farm have created a little corner of Eden in a patchwork of fields.
“The proposed route one will utterly destroy this beautiful and tranquil setting.”
SSEN Transmission began an online public consultation in February.
People have until March 12 to make their views known on the various routes for the Angus powerline.
The company plans further consultation in the summer.
The company argues it has an obligation to make the grid as efficient, coordinated and economic as possible. While also protecting the environment.
Route one, however, is not the only difficult option.
The company’s favoured choice, route two, cuts through the heart of Montreathmont Forest, near Brechin.
This proposal cuts through pockets of ancient woodland and trees that have been growing there for at least 300 years.
An SSEN Transmission spokeswoman said feedback would be “vital in shaping the next stage” of the Angus powerline.
She said: “We will consider the views expressed by all stakeholders, along with the technical, environmental and geographic constraints on the design, to inform a final route selection.”