Extra safety checks led to delayed transportation of SSEN transformer
The letter referred to a transformer transported under police escort from Invergordon to Wester Balblair on Saturday July 5, and which passed through Beauly in the early afternoon of the concluding day of the Beauly Gala. This relates to the second of two transformers that were transported through the village. The first transformer arrived at Beauly substation on the evening of Wednesday July 2.
READ MORE: Reform 'sabotaging' Scotland's energy industry, blasts John Swinney
While it was originally intended that the transportation of the second transformer should happen on the Friday, and then on the Saturday morning, delays were caused by necessary maintenance and additional safety checks undertaken by our hauliers and contractors. We will always listen to local concerns about our activities, and have already apologised for any inconvenience that may have been caused due to the delay of transporting this second transformer. It should be noted that these transformers are critical to maintaining the current electricity network in the area.
The letter also referred to health concerns not being included in the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) that we submit as part of planning applications such as for the proposed Fanellan substation and converter station project. The scope of factors included within an EIA follows a long-established and robust process for the development and determination of electricity transmission infrastructure. Any potential health impacts associated with electricity transmission infrastructure are well understood, and we strictly adhere to all relevant health and safety legislation and regulations, as your readers would expect.
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More generally, SSEN Transmission is currently upgrading the transmission system in the north of Scotland through our £20 billion 'Pathway to 2030' programme of investment. This is a mix of new onshore and subsea electricity transmission projects – and upgrades to existing network infrastructure – that will increase the amount of renewable electricity connected to the grid. The need for these projects has been approved by the independent energy regulator Ofgem, after being assessed and recommended as required by the National Energy System Operator . SSEN Transmission is obligated by licence to develop and deliver the work.
Growing the grid is critical for the delivery of clean power and energy security ambitions, and UK and Scottish government net-zero targets. The projects will also deliver a significant economic boost, and important legacies such as community benefit funding and more housing.
As part of the fabric of Scotland's economy and society, it is our aim at SSEN Transmission to carry out all our work transparently and in partnership with the communities we serve.
Kevin Smith
Programme Director, SSEN Transmission, Perth
LYNDSEY Ward's letter helped to illustrate something that is happening all across Scotland and is a blight on the lives of people everywhere. She gives us a clear example of how the interests of the local community are considered to be of no consequence, when big business is allowed to put their financial interest before everything else.
Unfortunately, this is not just the case in Beauly. In Ardrossan the ferry to Arran is being held up, disrupting the lives and the economic interest of the local people, to service the vested interests of a large private company not based in Scotland. In Loch Lomond side, the same pattern emerges, local views and interests are ignored to allow a private company to make profits. Indeed there are example of this all over our country.
READ MORE: Will John Swinney surprise us with a courageous election manifesto?
Not content with robbing Scotland of its natural resources, the UK establishment uses our country and people in any way it likes, with very little opportunity for communities to resist.
There is, however, one way to oppose this effectively. Our petition before the Scottish Parliament, if accepted, would put a UN human rights covenant into Scots law. The Scottish Parliament has limited powers under the Scotland Act, but fortunately has the power under the Act to do what our petition requests.
If they did that, local people would have the power at local, regional or national to demand referendums on any civil or political issue, and the outcome of such referendums would be legally enforceable. Now this would give considerable power to local communities.
If you think our communities should have such legal powers to fight back, go on line to the Scottish Parliament website click on Petitions, then 'view petitions' then enter our petition number PE2135 then go to 'full petition' you can read the petition there and if you agree with it you can sign it, thousands of Scots have already done so. If you want to help local people to resist these impositions, do something positive about it.
Andy Anderson
National Convener RSS (Respect Scottish Sovereignty)
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon: The 'powerhouse' of Scottish politics?
From her public fallout with Alex Salmond and a shocking police investigation and even rumours about her sexuality, her life as a politician has played out in the eyes of the world in a way that many before her have never experienced. Since the Scottish Parliament reconvened 25 years ago, Ms Sturgeon has been a mainstay of the Holyrood corridors. Ms Sturgeon's influence on UK politics is rarely disputed, even if her record in government is often criticised for a drug deaths crisis and a failure to narrow the educational attainment gap. Every move – both political and person – has been under immense scrutiny. And yet in May 2026, she will call time on her political career. By that point, it will have been more than three years since she resigned as first minister and SNP leader. But before she goes, the former first minister will release her autobiography Frankly next week, on August 14. Read more: Ms Sturgeon has already shared that the book will be deeply personal, covering every success and failure of her political career. For those of us who have interacted with Ms Sturgeon over the years, it had been clear being at the helm of Scottish politics had taken its toll. It may then seem surprising that the former first minister would want to share every detail of her life with the public in her memoir, particularly as she has sought privacy from the shockwaves of Operation Branchform – the police probe into SNP finances. Ms Sturgeon was arrested and questioned about the case in June 2023 but was informed in March this year the investigation had concluded and she was no longer a suspect. Her husband Peter Murrell – who she is now divorcing – was charged in April 2024 with embezzlement. The case rumbles on as the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed his next court appearance has yet to be set. Is this a case then of the former first minister trying to reclaim her legacy? A source close to the former first minister told The Herald on Sunday: 'I think being freed from the constraints of office, albeit she is still an MSP but is standing down, it means she is perhaps more able, and will be more able in the years to come, to discover about the person she is rather than the politician she has been literally all of her adult life. On a professional level, it is all she has ever done. (Image: PA) 'The nature of politics, especially in this day and age, it doesn't really give people any leeway.' 'Politics is a brutal business and it doesn't cut people any slack, certainly when you're as prominent, high-profile and senior as she was for so many years, it's very hard to have a life of your own,' the insider said. 'I think that's something that she probably realises now that she is almost completely freed, notwithstanding a few months to go as an MSP, but almost certainly freed of the burden, if you like. 'I think she is realising for the first time just how constraining the life of a senior politician has been for her in all sorts of ways.' You just have to take a look at the former first minister's social media posts to see she is already feeling lighter from the burden of politics. There has been a gradual opening up in recent months with glimpses of gym sessions, driving lessons and cocktails with friends. Ms Sturgeon is building her life away from politics – but she may never escape the attention of her public persona. It is not an understatement to suggest that Nicola Sturgeon is up there with the highest profile politicians Scotland has ever seen. But does her time in office and her legacy match up to that lofty moniker though? Ask the future of the SNP and they will tell you of her 'overwhelmingly positive legacy'. David Barrett, an SNP candidate for Cowdenbeath in next year's election, said: 'She was and still is internationally recognised as the powerhouse of Scottish politics.' He added: 'She has an enormous legacy that I think the public recognises. There may be people that want to cast negative aspects to her legacy and they will desperately try to do that. They can try to undermine her legacy if they want to but they will fail.' But within her own party, there are those who believe she is to blame for the party's very significant decline in popularity. Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry is among the most outspoken of those critics. Read more: She has repeatedly described her former leader's reign over the SNP as a 'failure' and 'divisive'. Take her recent Scottish Daily Mail column. The KC lambasts Ms Sturgeon's record on health, education, poverty, transport – and of course, the failure to secure independence. She asks whether the Scottish Child Payment and the baby box – two policies often cited as Ms Sturgeon's key successes – are 'the height of her legacy'. Ms Cherry wrote: 'She repeatedly promised a second referendum she knew she could not deliver, issuing a never-ending list of dates and targets which she missed. 'She marched her troops up and down the hill until many of them deserted in disgust.' It would of course be remiss not to mention the significant fallout between Ms Cherry and Ms Sturgeon, caused by a number of political and personal reasons, including the former first minister's focus on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which aimed to simplify the process of a transgender individual to change their legal gender. (Image: PA) Ms Cherry has always been a fierce defender of Alex Salmond, the predecessor and mentor of Ms Sturgeon. The row between the two former first ministers rocked the SNP and has lasting implications for the independence movement the pair once built. Under Ms Sturgeon's tenure, the Scottish Government admitted it acted unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment allegations against Mr Salmond. He was cleared of 13 allegations in 2020 but his allies have always accused Ms Sturgeon of participating in a plot against him. Ms Sturgeon resigned as first minister on her own terms while still a significantly popular figure. There can be no doubt that her resignation - and the events that followed - changed her party forever. Ipsos's political monitoring put the SNP on 50% of the Holyrood constituency vote in December 2022. Since her resignation, it has narrowed consistently, reaching 34% in June 2025 - a record low since 2010. She was the face of daily Covid-19 briefings while the country was on lockdown – a move winning her significant support with the public. But the pandemic inquiry that followed have done her legacy no favours. It was revealed that all of Ms Sturgeon's WhatsApp messages from this time had been deleted. Those who lost loved ones to the virus, especially those who were transferred from hospital to a care home while testing positive with the virus, would argue this is a significant part of her legacy. Regardless of how Ms Sturgeon describes her own legacy in her memoir, it will do little to convince her critics. Her close ally describes it: 'If you are subject to scrutiny that she describes, I think there's probably an element of 'I want to be my own person but I'm going to tell it how it is and how I see it'. 'Is that magically going to stop mischief-making and speculation? No. 'If she had been entirely honest and candid, would she rather things hadn't been so intrusive and hadn't been dissected so much? Absolutely. But I think she realises and recognises that it goes with the territory." The source added: 'She elevated the status and the office of first minister and by extension the status of Scotland in a way and to a level that has never been the case previously. 'She was and remains a figure of international interest.' As the sun sets on Ms Sturgeon's political career, there are a range of opinions surrounding her. Whether you believe she has been a positive or negative figure on Scottish politics, it is clear why so many are desperate to know just what the former first minister will reveal in her memoir.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Euan McColm: Nicola Sturgeon's memoir can't gloss over her divisive legacy
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Sturgeon's memoir, Frankly, will be in shops on Thursday, but we already know the headlines. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unsurprisingly, she describes the day she was arrested by police investigating the SNP's finances as the worst of her life. There are affecting passages about a miscarriage, 15 years ago, and righteous anger about rumours of a lesbian relationship with a French diplomat. And there's the revelation that, despite that there being no affair with Catherine Colonna – who would go on to become French Foreign Minister – Sturgeon does not consider her sexuality to be 'binary'. Long-term relationships with men, writes the former FM, have accounted for more than 30 years of her life but she has never considered sexuality – her own included – to be binary. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One can imagine the disappointment of Sturgeon's publishers when, rather than exploring that aspect of her life, she goes on to write that 'sexual relationships should be private matters'. I completely agree with that position but, then, I haven't just shelled out 300 grand for a tell-all memoir that appears to do no such thing. Frankly? Try coyly. Of course, it would have been foolish to expect Sturgeon to tackle the failings of her time in power in Frankly. The ex-leader of the SNP does not do humility or self-reflection terribly well, having a tendency to lash out at critics rather than engage. We can, I suppose, try to join the dots in some of what Sturgeon writes in an attempt to get to the truth. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Does, for example, that 'non-binary' revelation explain why the former First Minister was – and remains – fully committed to the demands of gender ideologues? Was the personal driving the political when she rejected concerns that allowing anyone to self-identify into the legally-recognised sex of their choosing In an interview to promote her book, last week, Sturgeon said she hoped, next, to turn her hand to the art of fiction. A novel, dear God, is to be attempted. While the MSP – who will step down from Holyrood next year – may consider the publication of Frankly the beginning of a bright new chapter, the sense lingers that the book marks an end. Politics is a brutal old game and, little more than two years after stepping down from office, Nicola Sturgeon is no longer the much-adored heroine of the independence movement. Rather, she divides nationalists, with some former allies now hopeful that she will fade into obscurity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sturgeon may have succeeded Alex Salmond as leader of the SNP at a time – post independence referendum – when membership was soaring. 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In making that decision, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch opened up the prospect of exciting new splits in her party. Within hours of Forbes' announcement, the SNP's former leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, let it be known that he was considering taking a tilt at the seat next May. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen. For one thing, the SNP would have to change its rules for candidates to allow Blackford to stand at this late stage in the selection process. For another, we must always make room for the suspicion that Blackford – in common with other politicians – simply enjoys being talked about. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While Blackford mulls a run for Holyrood, the man who ousted him as the SNP's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, has his own ambition to enter Scottish Parliament. 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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Why SNP would want Ian Blackford on the Holyrood frontline
Mr Blackford has been largely out of the public eye since he stood down from his Westminster seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber at last year's general election. The Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency ceased to exist at the last election following boundary changes. The successor seat of Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire was won by the Lib Dems' Angus MacDonald with the SNP's Drew Hendry coming second. Mr Blackford was first elected to Westminster in May 2015 - the post 2014 independence referendum election - when the SNP won an astonishing 56 of Scotland's 59 seats. Read more: A former SNP national treasurer, he became the SNP Westminster leader after Angus Robertson lost his seat at the 2017 snap general election. He became known for his love of a stunt after he was expelled from the chamber in 2018 by a flustered John Bercow, the former Speaker, after refusing to sit down in a protest over the failure to debate what he called a Brexit 'power grab' on Scotland which prompted a mass walkout from colleagues. Amid the Westminster votes on EU withdrawal and then the Partygate saga, Mr Blackford came to prominence across the UK for locking horns in fiery exchanges with former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Commons. Mr Johnson, in turn, liked to rile Mr Blackford, deliberately and repeatedly misnaming the SNP as the Scottish Nationalist Party (not as it is correctly called the Scottish National Party) with the then PM poking fun at Mr Blackford's weight and mocking his claim to be 'a humble crofter'. Ian Blackford questioning Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Image: PA) Of course, Mr Blackford was anything but 'just a humble crofter", although he does have his own Highland croft. For most of his working life before becoming an MP he enjoyed a lucrative career as an investment banker. During his career in high finance, he ran Deutsche Bank's equity operations in Scotland and the Netherlands for a time. Following 20 years in the financial sector, he left to do independent consultancy work, forming an investor relations company called First Seer in 2002. But despite his robust efforts in the Brexit turmoil to hold a series of Tory Prime Ministers to account – Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak - Mr Blackford had a turbulent time with his own MPs. His handling of sexual harassment claims made against the SNP MP Patrick Grady by a young staffer was widely criticised after a leaked recording showed him urging colleagues to support Mr Grady while failing to mention his victim. Amid discontent and heated arguments among his MPs - including Joanna Cherry and Mhairi Black who were at opposite sides of the debate over gender self-declaration - he was ousted from his role as SNP leader in the Commons in December 2022 in an internal power struggle and replaced by Stephen Flynn. The two men later denied any acrimony with a photograph posted on social media of them happily having a drink together on a Westminster terrace. Mr Blackford is reportedly considering whether to stand now for Holyrood following the shock announcement by the Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes on Monday that she will not stand for re-election to her Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency (which overlaps with parts of Mr Blackford's old Westminster seat) in May next year. It is easy to see why senior figures in the SNP may want their former Westminster leader on the Scottish Parliament frontline. While he has never been in government, he has considerable parliamentary and campaigning experience, as well as of course his experience of finance from his previous career. He is also someone who is very loyal to the legacy of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and to the current First Minister John Swinney. It was rumoured that Mr Blackford was one of the central figures in the SNP who encouraged Mr Swinney to put himself forward for party leader last year following the sudden resignation of Humza Yousaf. There is also an issue that the SNP benches will be losing many of its senior MSPs and ministers. Ms Forbes is the latest to announce her exit, but she follows in the footsteps of Ms Sturgeon, Mr Yousaf, finance secretary Shona Robison, as well as fellow cabinet members Fiona Hyslop and Mairi Gougeon. A number of junior ministers are also standing down including Richard Lochhead and Graeme Dey. With so many experienced politicians leaving it would be easy to see why the SNP would want to recruit more senior party figures into Holyrood. If Mr Blackford does decide to stand, he is selected by his party as the candidate, and voters elect him, it is likely he would be a contender for a top job in the Cabinet - maybe even finance secretary. And he may well have a sizeable group of former MPs by his side as he sits in Holyrood - including of course his usurper Mr Flynn.
