Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has backed calls for a “moratorium” over towering pylons and wind turbines sweeping Scotland’s countryside.
It follows a convention of community councils which was organised by Aird and Loch Ness councillor Helen Crawford at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness.
At the meeting, which was attended by both MPs and MSPs, residents said the natural beauty of the Highlands was “beyond price” and that “no financial compensation can ever replace what we stand to lose”.
Cllr Crawford, who also chaired the meeting, fought a months-long battle with Highland Council to issue a live map of planned and completed renewable projects under the SNP government in Edinburgh.
It showed that there were currently 1,300 projects either finished or in the pipeline. SSEN Transmission alone expects to invest £22 billion to develop renewable energy infrastructure.
Mr Findlay has backed calls for a moratorium to enable further discussions with the Scottish Government on how areas such as the Highlands can be safeguarded from infrastructure destroying its countryside.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Those who have to live in the shadow of overdevelopment are all too often ignored by Scotland’s planning system.
“The SNP and Labour have both acted to curtail public opinion in relation to the building of new pylons, transformers and battery farms, so the voices of rural communities are not being heard.
“That’s why Helen Crawford’s work in establishing the Highland convention is so important.
“I wholeheartedly support the unified statement issued at the convention, and my party will do everything it can to seek an urgent debate on it in Holyrood.
“During my ongoing tour of communities across Scotland, and after discussions with Helen, it is clear an unjust energy transition risks harming vast swathes of Scots.
“The SNP’s energy strategy, already three years late, must be published immediately and they need to rethink their misguided policy of scrapping local planning inquiries.
“A temporary pause to ensure we get this right is common sense.”
