Dec 21 - Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

It was less of a high-voltage climax and more of a polite conclusion to the public inquiry which will decide whether the proposed 137-mile powerline, designed to run down the central spine of Scotland, will ever be built.

Held in five different locations since February, the inquiry has followed the Beauly-to-Denny route of the proposed pylons which have divided opinion as much as they will physically split the country in two.

From Inverness to Stirling - via the Cairngorms National Park and Perth - arguments have been heard for and against the creation of a GBP30m Scottish and Southern Energy powerline capable of transmitting an extra 2100 megawatts of wind-farm power through Scotland and towards its most profitable market in England.

While the proposals are welcomed by those in the energy industries, both in Britain and Europe, they have been fiercely attacked by environmental and community groups desperate to stop the perceived scarring of Scotland's most cherished and beautiful places by 600 steel towers which are more than 200ft tall.

Dr Nicki Baker, of Friends of the Ochils, summed up the feelings of anti-powerline protesters across Scotland yesterday, when she said: "It has been exhausting. While the applicants have a team of advocates at their disposal, we have been doing this in our own time and the expense of everything else in our lives.

"It has, of course, been a choice to do this and it has been done genuinely out of a sense of civic duty. There has been massive public support for what we have been doing. Without that, we wouldn't have been able to carry on.

"We had pretty much put Christmas and everything else on hold, but now I think we are just looking forward to a bit of a rest."

While the appeal costs to applicants is said to run to GBP7m - a sum which can largely be recouped from energy regulators - the cost of the campaign by residents around Stirling alone has reached GBP50,000, a sum which has been raised through race nights and minimum GBP2 donations to the "begging bowl".

In the plush yet formal surrounds of the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling, the last day of the inquiry was reserved for the closing submissions of Scottish and Southern Energy.

It has also been a long haul for chief recorder Timothy Brian and his two colleagues from the Scottish Government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals, who, over the course of the inquiry, have heard 300 witnesses and gathered 1000 pages of closing submissions.

MrBrian, who himself had taken 2000 pages of notes since February, described the inquiry in his closing statement as "uniquely challenging". Just moments later, a slightly def lated festive balloon slowly fell from the ceiling to the floor of the hotel ballroom.

"I think that is almost a metaphor, " Mr Brian said.

Submissions yesterday saw advocates for the power company clinically dissect, deconstruct and almost completely disregard the arguments put forward by campaigners against the pylons, some which were described as "weak" and others "exaggerated".

Impassioned calls against the powerline have been heard from those in and around Stirling perhaps more than any other part of Scotland, as the the powerline is to run across the land where the Battle of Sheriffmuir was fought in November 1715 and obscure views of Wallace Monument from the north.

Advocates for the applicants fought yesterday to define the exact point where the battle between the Jacobites and government forces began, the power company preferring the theory that the battle started at a point now covered by commercial forestry, with the pylons avoiding the spots where the potential for human remains is at its highest.

It was also proposed that a powerline route to the east of Stirling was preferable to running it along the west, which would take pylons far closer to Stirling Castle. Historic Scotland has agreed with this thesis, to the point where the organisation was accused of "betrayal" by some anti-pylon protesters.

A similar application to put pylons on the Yorkshire Moors, which attracted similar levels of controversy, ended in a compromise when underground cables carried the power through the most sensitive areas in a bid to preserve views and minimise their impact on the environment. Campaigners hope this could set the precedent for the Denny-toBeauly proposals.

Stirling Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, Stirling Before Pylons and Stirling University came up with four alternatives to the pylons, which would result in the cables being buried underground in certain locations.

A report by ScottishPower Energy Networks has since put the cost of the small sections of underground cable between GBP94m and GBP444m. It is thought that a total underground approach to the powerline will cost 12 times as much as the overhead option.

The final submissions on the alternatives were not presented to the inquiry in time yesterday. They are due to be finalised today, with the final decision of the public inquiry to be presented to Scottish ministers by the end of 2008.

The Beauly-Denny Landscape Group, a consortium of campaign groups headed by Ramblers Scotland and John Muir Trust, has argued that there is no need for the powerline at all, with a case put forward that the existing system can cope if it is used more "intelligently".

Davie Blackie, spokesman for the group, said: "This has been a tortuous process.

"We badly need an energy strategy for Scotland and fundamentally a strategy for energy transmission, so we don't have to deal with this piecemeal approach."

FOR AND AGAINST

FOR

Scottish and Southern Energy. Wants the scheme to go ahead to transmit Scotland's fast growing and highly profitable green energy sources.

Mike Martin, Aberdeen Trades Union Council. He considers the power line as a promotion of environmentally friendly energy sources * Mark Ruskell MSP, pictured right. Would like to see part of the line go underground, but the Green Party member sees it as a contribution to tackling climate change.

Scottish Renewables, representative of 190 green organisations, feels the upgrade is "vital" to keeping Scotland as a world leader in renewable energy.

AGAINST

Dr Fiona Watson, TV historian and writer who described Stirling and its surrounding area as a "theatre of war" which should be preserved Stirling Before Pylons and Friends of The Ochils. Active members include husband-and-wife team Dr Nicki Baker and Peter Pearson, who live in Logie.

MSPs Keith Brown, Dr Richard Simpson, and George Reid, plus former MSP Sylvia Jackson.

Former Scotland Rugby international Kenny Logan, pictured left, whose family have a farm in the shadows of the proposed route.

Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.

(c) 2007 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.