Voe residents told to ‘keep pushing’ against pylons ahead of consultation
VOE RESIDENTS have been urged to “keep pushing” and to voice concerns with SSEN pylon plans at a consultation event this week.
SSEN is set to meet residents about plans to build a substation south of Voe at Hamarigrind, as well as overhead lines between Kergord and a new ‘Northern Hub’, likely to be in Toft.
The event will take place between 3pm-8pm at Voe Hall tomorrow (Tuesday), and people in the area have been encouraged to go along and make their feelings heard.
A petition was launched against plans to build 38-metre high pylons near the village earlier this year, with 1,623 people signing it.
It called for the energy giant to instead bury all transmission cables rather than erecting large pylons to connect infrastructure planned as part of the energy transition.
Image: SSEN Transmission
SSEN is now proposing to underground some cabling near to Voe, but there stands to be overhead lines which end up roughly following the alignment of the A968 Dales Lees road.
The company has also proposed overhead lines to the west of the A970 from the existing Kergord substation to the new Hamarigrind one south of Voe.
The petition was organised by Voe Community Development Association (VCDA), and its chairman Martin Naylor said that Tuesday’s consultation event was “the big one”.
“VCDA position after the petition in January has not changed,” he said.
“As much as our efforts are going into working productively with SSEN to try to achieve a better outcome, we still believe that cables should be hidden and buried wherever possible and that a Shetland-wide cumulative impact assessment over future industrialisation should be completed.”
“If we work together and keep pushing, we may be able to positively influence the future.”
VCDA also shared online notes from a June meeting with SSEN officials, in which VCDA said there was “disappointment and anxiety” around the prospect of pylons being built near to people’s homes.
They also called for a fuller Shetland strategy event to be organised, bringing together all of the current and proposed energy developments in the isles.
Those concerns have been echoed in a letter shared today (Monday) by Shetland News, with SSEN hosting six different events across four days, in locations ranging from Voe to Hillswick, and Burravoe in Yell.
VCDA member Roray Stewart said another event was needed because the “mass industrialisation and scale of development is overwhelming” for locals.
An SSEN Transmission spokesperson said last week that they were “committed to engaging openly and transparently with communities across Shetland and look forward to meeting people at our upcoming consultation events next week, including dedicated sessions on our proposed Yell substation project.
“We will consider all feedback, including the questions raised by Sustainable Shetland, as part of our ongoing consultation process and will respond through our consultation channels.”
They added: “We would encourage anyone with an interest in our proposals to attend our Yell events to speak directly with the project team and learn more about our proposals, which are covered in detail in our consultation materials.”
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