Drumoak Church Hall was packed out on the night of 28 March thanks to an information meeting, organised by Deeside Against Pylons Action Group. The focus of the evening, ably facilitated by John Rahtz, was the planned pylon route through the area, specifically as it affects local communities. There was an update on the action group’s work and a Q&A session.
It was notable that no parliamentarians or other parliamentary candidates were present although this was probably a good thing in the light of comments made about a lack of support. I asked questions as an Alford resident and member of the public but mentioned a constructive meeting I had with SSEN just a few days before.
My observations at the church hall event focused on the scope and process surrounding the composition of the environmental impact assessment relating to the new transmission infrastructure and the associated public engagement.
“Environmental impacts are avoided, minimised or mitigated by the network design, and best practice in environmental management is incorporated in the network design,
“Local communities impacts are avoided, minimised or mitigated by the network design.”
This detail will form the basis of a meeting in Aberdeen that I have sought with ESO and SSEN this month and I will feed back to John Rahtz and others from the action group in due course. SSEN has agreed to meet and we are liaising over dates and times.
I encourage everyone to make their thoughts known and to attend future meetings of groups to keep up to date with advice and information. It was a pleasure to talk to so many folk at Drumoak and my door is always open to anybody who wishes to meet to discuss this or any other issues pertinent to West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.