[mairead]

hope I will be forgiven for posting this on site.

TO ALL EX PATS AND DESCENDENTS OF SCOTTISH BLOOD.

Some of you may be aware that for a long time now, there has been a battle going on to save the Sheriffmuir battlefield from destruction against proposed plans to erect giant pylons on and around this historic site which will send cheaper electricity to the south of England.
The 'Stirling before Pylons' group have raised £30,000 towards fighting this appalling proposal to destroy the battlefield and the surrounding countryside.
They have now emplyed a QC (Queens Council) to act on their behalf but this legal cost and other expenses are going to total more than £70,000. I am appealing to anyone who can send a donation, however small, to help fight this atrocious attack on Scotland's heritage.
We desperately need all the support we can get to prevent these ancient war graves being dug up and the bones of our heroes tossed to the wind..
If any of you can spare anything, please send a cheque/money order or whatever, to me. PM me and I will send you my home address and I will forward it to SBP.
Make your cheque out to
'Stirling Before Pylons'
Thank you
Mags

[Webmaster]

Mairead, no apology necessary. We got behind this effort over on CLS and we will stay behind it here.

Here is a graphic that I've modified somewhat to remove some dated details -



I know there are many times Scots outwith Scotland ask, "What can I do to show my support?" People, this is something we can ALL do, no matter where we stay.

[Mike]

This is one place where people need to come together to emphatically say, "NO PYLONS!"

Sheriffmuir is more than just an incredibly beautiful area, or a historic battlefield. It is also a burial place for those that lost their lives there. How can anyone dig up a burial place to build foundations for power pylons?!?

And these pylons aren't just going to sprout at Sheriffmuir, they are going to meander their way south to England. Let England generate her own power!

Here is an image taken from atop the Wallace Monument -


Can you imagine this view being ruined by a row of giant pylons crossing from left to right? The proposed path of the pylons is between Abbey Craig and Blairlogie, less than 2 miles in the distance.

I say again - let England generate her own power.

[mairead]

Mike.
I thank you so much for showing your support for this. I am absolutely horrified at the thought of my ancestors being dug up, espescially when they died to free us from English domination and are now to be disturbed to provide English electricity.
I have organised marches several times in protest at this and been involved with Stirling against pylons since it's concept.
Hope this time we will win and can send the bloody ureaucrats homewards to think again.
These gigantic monstrosities are scheduled to stetch from Denny in Stirlingshire to Beauly in Invernesshire and cut through the beautiful Cairngorms.

[Mike]

Mairead, a fellow known to Maitland (possibly you) and myself explained to me Scotland had absolutely no need for any of the energy that would be carried on these pylons. All of this energy was slated for your neighbor to the south. Considering he was employed at ScottishPower, I think he was probably making a fairly accurate statement.

This is just another scheme to rape Scotland, all the while b*tching about the expense of subsidizing her (which we all know is a lie!).

Why are nuclear power stations always proposed for Scotland? Can England not come up with her own property upon which to build nuclear power plants?

Why are wind farms always proposed for Scotland? Does the wind not blow in England?

[mairead]

Mike,
Have you ever heard the song,

"There'll always be an England"

Well they hope to keep their England by wiping Scotland out economically. Our big industries have all been gradually taken away over the last thirty years.
Tourism is about all that Scotland has right now so they want to destroy that for us as well.
I can see you are only too well aware of what goes on over here and the wrongs done to Scotland. Here is where they store the nuclear missiles. here is where they dump their nuclear waste. We send them water, we send them oil, gas and electricity. No wonder so many of us want to be free of the damned union which has always treated this land as a mere bloody annexe.

I will lie in the mud on Sheriffmuir in front of the dumpers and diggers if they ever try to move in, and I won't be alone, I assure you.

Please use any influence you have. If you could raise any donations from anyone who wishes to contribute over there for me, and send them to my home address which I think you have, It will be just wonderful. We really do need money to be able to fight. The QC whom I mentioned in my original post ist a top man in his profession, way above the ordinary lawyer, but they cost so much money and that is why I am appealing for donations.

Any cheques etc should be made out to 'Stirling before Pylons' group.

Thanks again for stepping into Scotland's corner. Bless you.

[Mike]

If anyone here in the States would like to donate to this effort, contact me via PM and I will give you either my mailing address, or a PayPal address. I'll be more than happy to coordinate the collection of donations on this side of the Atlantic and then get the funds across to Mairead. I can collect the US dollars and then just send Mairead a check drawn on my Royal Bank of Scotland account.

If anyone cares to donate, I will make the exchange effective as of that date, using this exchange. As of this post, £1 equals $2.00923 USD.

[mairead]

That's Brilliant Mike. Thanks so much. It really is so gratifying that others are so willing to help with this.
I have a number of information sheets giving up to the minute details of what's happenng but don't know how to get these on site, so if you PM me your home address I will get it mailed to you this week and you can have a read. (It's easier for me that way.)
Cheers,
Mags

[mairead]

Mailed the info this Afternoon Mike.
Cheers.

[Mike]

Thanks Mairead. It usually takes 4 days to get mail across, so I should see it the first of the week.

[Mike]

Here is the material I received from Mairead. There are several pages of material, so please bear with me as it will take a bit of effort to get it all typed in.

STIRLING BEFORE PYLONS
Beauly - Denny power line public inquiry
Prospects for the Stirling area session
20th November - 20th December 2007

Summary
We are now well under way with delivering the large amount of detailed work required for Stirling Before Pylons to participate effectively in the Stirling area session of the Beauly - Denny power line Public Inquiry. The major theme of the Inquiry seems to be whether certain stretches of the line should be put underground. As the costs for this would be very high, it would require a very strong case to be developed against SSE's proposals for the line to be overhead along its entire length.

The Stirling area is one of 5 contenders for putting the line underground - and could be substantially the longest and most expensive stretch. Scottish Natural Heritage are supporting undergrounding in this and just one other area. Stirling Council is expected to support their case, but there is a need for Stirling Before Pylons to do all it can to provide relevant evidence to the Public Inquiry. To do this we will require to engage a number of expert witnesses and public representation; the costs are likely to approach £70,000.

Background
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) have submitted proposals, on behalf of Scottish Hydro-Electric Transmission Ltd. (SHETL) and Scottish Power, for the upgrade of the power line between Beauly and Denny, to a 400 kV overhead line. In doing so, they failed to take on board a wide range of objections expressed by local authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, a number of environmental and community groups, and many members of the public. When the Scottish Executive invited views on SSE's proposals, in late 2005, more than 17,000 objections were received and fewer than 70 letters of support.

The level of objections triggered the setting up of a formal Public Inquiry - a procedure held according to strict rules, in which those proposing a development and those opposing it each set out their case, in front of one of more Reporters from the Scottish Executive. The Reporter(s) then write a detailed report, setting out their recommendations as to whether the proposals should be allowed, rejected, or allowed subject to conditions. The report goes to relevant Ministers in the Scottish Executive, who make the final decisions on the proposals.

The Public inquiry for the Beauly - Denny line is taking place in 5 stages. The first stage, the Strategy session, took place from February to May 2007. this heard evidence on technical issues (such as the practicalities of undergrounding and the level of evidence to link high voltage power lines to human health problems), generic issues (such as the potential impacts on tourism) and methodological issues (for example, the way the impacts on the landscape can / should be assessed).

This is being followed by four area sessions, each considering the details of the potential impacts of the areas concerned, and the possibilities for mitigating them. The first session, in Inverness, was completed at the end of June. The Cairngorms National Park session starts on 28th August, then in October the Inquiry moves to Perth & Kinross. The Stirling session will take place from 20th November to 20th December in the Golden Lion in Stirling city centre.

(to be continued)

[Mike]

(continued)

The Strategy Session
The Strategy Session of the Public Inquiry dealt with a huge range of generic and methodological issues, and was completed in mid-May. In the final week, each party submitted "closing submissions", summarising their positions on the proceedings. Copies of these can be obtained from Peter Pearson or Nicki Baker [contact details to follow]. The one submitted jointly by the three councils and the National Park Authority, and that provided by SNH, give a thorough summary of the weaknesses in the applicants' case, while SSE's indicates where they think our cases are weak.

It seems fair to say that at this stage, nothing is either won or lost in the Inquiry. Undergrounding (using XLPE technology) is without doubt feasible, but it costs more than an overhead line. The issues for the local sessions are therefore fundamentally to establish whether undergrounding could be justified for specific sections of the route. This requires proof that (a) a suitable route could be found, a ( the disbenefits of using that route, underground, would be so much than those of using the applicants' route, overhead, that the additional costs could be justified.

Precedent is very important in this process. It is significant that the applicants themselves drew attention to the Reporters' findings in a previous inquiry, into a proposed power line in North Yorkshire, that a particular stretch justified putting the line underground.

"This section of line would have a very serious impact upon fine views over a Special Landscape Area towards the Cleveland Hills, the North York Moors national Park and the cherished landscape feature of Rosebery Topping. These views are enjoyed by many thousands of people including local residents of Nunthorpe and the surrounding area, users of the sports and recreational facilities between Nunthorpe and the bypass and road users on the immediate busy road network.

"In addition to the impact on the wider view the line would also dominate and seriously impair the attractive rural setting of Nunthorpe Church, a Grade II listed building.

"We consider that the combination of impacts which cannot be satisfactorily avoided by alternative routing and the large number of people affected are compelling reasons for requiring this section of line to be underground."

A Special Landscape Area if the equivalent of an AGLV in Scotland and a Grade II listed building is equivalent to our Grade B - the listing for Logie Kirk, and eight other buildings at the foot of the Ochils. The North Yorkshire case had nothing to compare with the National Wallace Monument or Stirling Castle, both iconic buildings, for which the Ochils form a crucial part of their setting.

The North Yorkshire Inquiry report therefore offers significant hope for us, as the Ochils scarp and the Logie area would seem to be broadly equivalent to the North Yorkshire case. Indeed, Stirling Before Pylons' expert witness Prof Mike O'Carroll, a veteran of many power line Public Inquiries, and a key activist in England, offered us the following comment:

"In my view the case against the overhead line mounting the hills where Ian [Paterson] took me walking is distinctly stronger than that for the Nunthorpe-Newby undergrounding in Yorkshire. In the Yorkshire case the overhead line wasn't proposed on the hills at all, but some miles away on the lowland plain away from the scarp edge. The line would have intruded in views to the hills in the national park, from area on the fringe between suburbs and countryside, but it wasn't very close to the hills of the park itself. The built heritage at Nunthorpe-Newby was far below the scale and standard near the proposed overhead line at Stirling"

(to be continued)

[Mike]

(continued)

Scottish National Heritage's position
Scottish National Heritage (SNH)'s role is vital in the process, as they are the statutory advisors on landscape and natural heritage issues. There are just two stretches along the entire 220 km of the Beauly-Denny proposals that SNH are expressing great concern about, and in each case, they will advise the Inquiry that putting these sections underground is the best means of minimising the impacts on the natural heritage. The two sections are where the line crosses over the southern scarp slope of the Ochil Hills, and where it would go through the Cairngorms National Park.

Several years ago, SNH carried out Formal Landscape Character Assessments for every part of Scotland. In the one for the Central Region (1998), SNH say of the Ochils scarp:

• Is is "a landscape experience that is unique in Scotland"
  
• It is "one of the most visually sensitive areas of Scotland"

It is appropriate, therefore, that SNH are putting forward a case detailing how badly SSE's proposals would damage the landscape of the Ochils scarp, along very similar to the case put forward by Stirling Before Pylons / Friends of the Ochils. SNH have also gone to considerable lengths to search for routes where the line could sensibly be put underground. They concluded that there was no suitable route that could be found to the east of Stirling, and so turned their attentions to the areas to the west of the city. They put forward in January two possible corridors through which an underground line could be routed, and have since been carrying out detailed assessments of actual routes, using a range of technical, environmental and archaeological experts to help them to assess the impacts of doing this.

We are greatly heartened by SNH's position on the issue of the impacts of SSE's proposals in the Stirling area, and their robust approach to promoting a feasible underground alternative. this, we believe, offers the real possibility that this case will be accepted by the Reporters - without SNH it would be an uphill battle to establish this position.

(to be continued)

[Mike]

(continued)

Stirling Council's position
Stirling Council formally objected to SSE's proposals, but the approach they took was much less robust and detailed than were the responses by the Highland Council, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Perth & Kinross Council. The Council's elected members have however been very supportive and, to date, unanimous in their support. Stirling Council officers and consultants will give evidence to the Stirling area session of the Inquiry, to support SNH's proposals for undergrounding, and we will be hoping to influence them towards making this as substantive as possible, and ensuring that their evidence does not undermine ours.

The fact that Stirling Council have objected to the proposals, and maintain their objections, is very much a plus, but their limited approach leaves a lot of work to be done by Stirling Before Pylons / Friends of the Ochils.

(to be continued)

[Mike]

(continued)

Stirling Before Pylons evidence
Stirling Before Pylons will be joining forces with Friends of the Ochils, a small local charity, to give evidence to the Stirling area session of the Inquiry. Our task will be to add as much additional weight as we can to the case against the proposals to put the power line overhead, to the east of Stirling, and in addition identifying how the issues we raise would be resolved by undergrounding, endorsing the view that undergrounding to the east is not feasible / acceptable. To do this, we will be bringing evidence on a wide range of topics, including:

1. Landscape, visual impact, recreation, amenity, etc.

• complementing the evidence that SNH will bring, showing up the inadequacies of SSE's detailed proposals, adding local detail, etc. We are commissioning an experienced landscape architect to be our expert witness on technical landscape issues, and an experienced conservationist to give evidence on Yellowcraig Wood, as well as using and eminent retired academic and campaign members to give relevant evidence.

2. History, heritage and culture

• the settings for the National Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle, and the damage that would be done to the Sheriffmuir Battlefield, are all key issues. We have three expert historians, all eminent in the Stirling area, lined up to give evidence on these issues.

3. Economic impacts, especially on tourism

• SSE's own evidence indicates that the extent of the impact on the tourism economy of the Stirling area may be one of the strongest arguments for putting the line underground. Our expert witnesses on these issues is the recently-retired head of the tourist board, who has considerable experience of public inquiries.

4. Local heath issues

• the Stirling area has no fewer than half of all the houses that are close to the proposed line, despite covering only one ninth of its length. Stirling Before Pylons are of course leader in the campaign to have the health impacts of the high voltage power lines recognised, and have gained widespread support from both politicians and the public for the need to adopt the precautionary principle and avoid routing the line close to houses. A recent report by a Cross-Party Working Group from the Westminster parliament has added weight to our position by recommending that there should be at least a 60 metre distance, and preferably a 200 metre distance, between existing housing and and new high-voltage power line.

5. Social justice and environmental justice

• the proposed route would further blight the already severely compromised Eastern Villages area, contrary to all the policies on social justice and environmental justice espoused by the previous Scottish Executive. Despite the change in power in the Executive, we anticipate that the SNP will also be sympathetic to such issues.

6. Route selection and undergrounding

• SSE's proposals to put the line to the east of Stirling, rather than the west, were based on very thin reasoning, and they dismissed the possibility of undergrounding any part of the line on the most minimal of grounds. Much was said about this at the Strategy session of the Inquiry; our role will be to support the concepts that the route should be put underground throughout the Stirling area, and to the west of the city. We have engaged an expert witness to give evidence on the feasibility of this, to complement the evidence of SNH.

7. The planning implications

• although this is not a planning inquiry, nevertheless the Reporters are trained and highly experienced in that framework. There is no doubt that planning issues will be seen as key to the decisions to be taken, and this requires very strong evidence to be given by expert witnesses. We have commissioned an expert planning consultant, much experienced in public inquiries and a feisty contributor to the Strategy session, to give evidence on our behalf.

Public inquiries, in general, and this one in particular, are heavily dominated by the legal representatives of the main parties. Thisrd parties who do not have experienced legal representation are at a distinct disadvantage. Stirling Before Pylons was represented for much of the Strategy session by John Campbell, a leading Planning QC (who prosecuted the lengthy public inquiry into the building of the Scottish Parliament), and we will be retaining him again for key parts of the Stirling area session.

(to be continued)

[Mike]

(continued)

Political Interest
members of Stirling Before Pylons have worked hard to gain political recognition and support for the issues in the Stirling area, at all levels and from all parties. When making crucial decision about its attitudes towards the power line proposals in 2006, Stirling Council reached unanimous decisions to object. In the run-up to the recent Council and Parliament elections, Stirling Before Pylons drew the attention of candidates of all parties to the power line issues, and we are no lobbying politicians across the board to re-establish all-party support.

The elections led to a number of changes in our representatives in the Scottish Parliament. Keith Brown (SNP) replacing George Reid in the Ochils constituency, has already shown active interest in the power line issues and has actively supported Ochil Hills issues. Bruce Crawford (SNP) has been a supporter of Stirling Before Pylons for some years, and has now become the constituency MSP for Stirling; he is now the Minister for Parliamentary Business and is therefore unfortunately unable to appear to give evidence on behalf of Stirling Before Pylons. However, Dr Richard Simpson (Labour), a new List MSP, is highly supportive, and will give evidence on our behalf on the health and social justice issues in Bruce's place. Murdo Fraser (Conservative) has been very supportive to date; he is expecting to lead a debate in the Parliament in September, criticising the the public inquiry process and showing its inadequacies; his new colleague Liz Smith also already shows considerable knowledge of the issues.

Financial implications
We believe that there is a real possibility that this Public inquiry will find that the power line should be put underground in the Stirling area, but this will only happen is a very strong case for that is developed. Stirling Before Pylons may have a crucial role to play in this process - but we will only be able to deliver if we have the best possible representatives. While members of the campaign, and other sympathisers are offering a great deal at no cost, there are critical areas of evidence, and legal representation, in which we have no expertise and for which we will have to pay experts to work on our behalf.

At this point in time, we anticipate that we will need to spend up to £70,000 on this process.

16th August 2007

Contact Details

Please don't hesitate to contact us if there's anything you'd like to talk through:

Ian Paterson: phone 01786462567, e-mail: ianfepater@hotmail.com

Peter Pearson & Nickie Baker: phone 01786 833399, e-mail: nicki@baker-pearson.net and peter@baker-pearson.net

[Mike]

If you've taken the time to read through the material supplied by Stirling Before Pylons, you will note their anticipated expenses come in around £70,000.

At the current rate of exchange, this figures to $144,448.03 USD.



Again, if any of our members in the US are interested in donating toward this effort, I have agreed to collect funds and send Stirling Before Pylons a check drawn on my Royal Bank of Scotland account. I will figure the exchange rate upon receipt of each donation. I can supply a mailing address for those wanting to send checks, or I can provide you with my PayPal address. Please PM me for my details.

The second Battle of Sheriffmuir has begun.