Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Brechin protestor says 55-metre pylons will destroy Angus landscape

Ken Allison says he would 'give up work if he could' to fight the SSEN scheme to run 400kV overhead lines across the county.

Ken Allison fears the impact of the  'super pylons' on the local landscape. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson
Ken Allison fears the impact of the 'super pylons' on the local landscape. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

A campaigner says Angus must wake up to ‘super pylons’ which could run across the county in a major infrastructure upgrade.

SSEN plans to replace existing 275kV capacity pylons with towers averaging 55 metres high to carry the 400kV overhead lines.

But there is increasing resistance to the project, which would run 70 miles through Aberdeenshire and Angus.

The route would run through fertile farmland to a substation at Tealing, near Dundee.

A Laurencekirk protest meeting last weekend was attended by hundreds of people.

And online campaign groups have been set up to fight the proposal.

Caterthuns impact

Ken Allison, who lives outside Brechin, says the plan should be immediately halted for proper consultation with affected communities.

The pylons could stand almost twice as tall as Scotland’s Kelpies.

They will skirt the Angus Caterthuns –  Iron Age hill forts which Ken’s home looks towards.

“These pylons are going to run 250 metres past my back door,” said the 60-year old former Royal Marine.

“Yet we knew nothing about this scheme until a few weeks ago.

Pylons protestor Ken Allison in his garden near Brechin.
The pylons could be eight times the height of telegraph poles near Ken Allison’s rural home. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

“I just think the community aspect has been handled appallingly.

“This will cross the A90 and run around the back of Forfar and I am sure people there aren’t aware of the scale of it.

“I feel so strongly about this that if I could I would give up work for a year to fight this.

“I don’t generally get involved in this sort of stuff, but this is just abuse of our communities.

“We have been here for 20 years, it has been a fantastic family home.

“But we are going to be in the shadow of these things – they will be the first thing we see in the morning and the last thing we see before we go to sleep.

“And they are not some dot on the horizon, these things are enormous.

“We are going to see them and we are going to hear them.”

Mearns campaigners fear the impact on landscape made famous by Sunset Song author Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

‘Horizon of realisation’

Ken says he feels the alternative options of underground cables or a sea route have been too readily dismissed.

“SSEN are at the stage of marking out the road nearby for the preferred route just a few hundred yards away,” he added.

“If they have reached that stage then they really should be knocking on our doors.

“The horizon of realisation has emerged for me – but there are still a lot of people who don’t know anything about it.

Campaign against 400kV SEN electricity transmission line.
The 400kV Kintore – Fiddes – Tealing line would run through the Mearns and Angus. Image: SSEN

“The whole thing needs to be stopped now.

“This is going to impact quality of life for people right down the east coast, and their mental and physical wellbeing.

“It’s being sold as a done deal.

“SSEN need to engage properly and the Scottish Government have to answer that.”

Consultation extended

The energy giant hopes to begin work on the four-year project in 2026.

A dedicated project website has been set up.

A spokesperson for SSEN Transmission said: “The Kintore- Fiddes -Tealing 400kV project is part of a GB-wide programme of works required to meet UK and Scottish Government 2030 net zero and energy security targets.

“We are currently at the early stages of development and are seeking feedback on potential route options and substation location.

“Given the extent of interest in the project and in direct response to requests from the community, we have extended the consultation period by two weeks.

“We would encourage anyone with an interest in the project to provide their feedback by Friday June 23.

“We would like to thank everyone who has shared their feedback so far, which will be carefully considered as we further refine our plans.”

Conversation