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ScotGov Accused of Deceit & U-Turn on Beauly-Denny Powerline

06 February 2010

Members of the SNP Government have been accused by MSP Murdo Fraser of deceiving the people of Perthshire and Stirlingshire after they have backtracked on parliamentary motions that they have lodged on the Beauly to Denny power line.

He pointed out that, amid concerns from P&KCouncil, the Highland Council and the Cairngorms National Park Authority, the SNP MSP for Perth and now Minister for the Environment Roseanna Cunningham had demanded that the undergrounding of the power line to be explored in July 2006. In her parliamentary motion, she had argued that undergrounding would decrease electric and magnetic fields (EMF) exposure limits.

In addition to this, SNP Minister for Parliamentary Business, Bruce Crawford, also lodged a parliamentary motion in November 2005 which flagged up concerns about the link between high voltage power lines and child leukaemia.

Deceived the People

In spite of this, Murdo Fraser observed, the SNP Government dismissed these concerns and it did not require undergrounding of the line in parts of Stirlingshire and Perthshire when making the decision about the powerline. He said: “It is incredible that Bruce Crawford MSP and Roseanna Cunningham MSP lodged parliamentary motions which called for the Beauly to Denny power line to be undergrounded and highlighted health concerns with overhead pylons and then in Government agreed to the line proceeding.

"These SNP Ministers deceived the people of Perthshire and Stirlingshire into believing that they would require the line to be undergrounded. It is disappointing that they have failed to stand up for their constituents when it matters."

He concluded: “This change in policy goes to show that this SNP Government cannot be trusted as they are willing to put their political agenda above the health of constituents and the landscape of Perthshire and Stirlingshire.”