Chamber and committees

That is not the point.

What rubbish!

He should listen to the people.

Let us have a look at the ministerial code. It says that

“meeting the developer or objectors to discuss the proposal, but not meeting all parties with an interest in the decision”

would be a breach of the ministerial code. The lobbying register shows that the cabinet secretary has met Statera Energy and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, but she will not meet any of the protest groups. That is a breach of the ministerial code. If she wants to come along, I will be more than happy to introduce her to some of those communities and individuals.

Instead of looking for solutions that empower, this devolved Government has chosen to once again ride roughshod over our rural communities. The Scottish National Party Government has demonstrated again that it does not understand or care about what goes on in our rural areas, and nor does the United Kingdom Government.

We often hear about a just transition, but what is taking place is an unjust transition. What is just about the overindustrialisation of our countryside, inflicting monster pylons, substations, wind turbines and battery storage facilities on many of our communities? The devolved Government is incompetent and does not give two hoots for rural Scotland. By not producing an energy strategy, it has left a vacuum. There is no plan for how much of each energy source we need and where it should be. That is why about 350 battery storage applications are in progress across Scotland. It is an absolute free-for-all, and the devolved SNP Government, asleep at the wheel, has allowed that to happen.

The minister is right—just like nuclear power is reserved, but the Scottish Government can block it by using the planning laws that it controls. Surely, in this instance, it can use planning laws to ban whatever it wants.

Will the member give way?

Will the minister give way?

Up and down Scotland, including in my region, rural communities are being threatened by developments that, as one campaigner describes, are

“bulldozing through the north east”.

Energy companies want to destroy our countryside to reward their shareholders, and the Scottish ministers are complicit in it.

I am not the only member of the Scottish Parliament representing a rural area whose inbox is full of constituents who are rightly concerned about the impact that planning legislation changes will have on their ability to protect their land and communities. The plethora of pylons that has been promised throughout the north and south of Scotland is causing locals a great deal of concern, with many community meetings, and community groups campaigning, on the issue.

The cabinet secretary, Gillian Martin, is perhaps unaware of that, given that she has never met with any of the 20 community groups in the north-east that have been established to oppose the pylon plans, even though the First Minister said that ministers would engage.

Absolutely.

We are currently facing plans for hundreds of miles of new pylons right across Scotland, affecting the Highlands, the Borders and Aberdeenshire, and just about everywhere in between. Turbines are popping up everywhere and battery storage is completely out of control. Communities are up in arms. They are being ignored, concerns are being dismissed and local issues are being discounted.

Compensation is not adequate and the promise of a couple of hundred quid off their energy bill for a few years or another community hall does not make up for the thousands of pounds that people are seeing wiped from the value of their home and the noise and disruption that come along with those developments.

Public inquiries are a vital part of our planning system to prevent rushed decisions from being taken by those with vested interests. They allow local communities to make their voices heard and empower our communities to have a chance to put their side of the argument. They are not about stopping all developments or standing in the way of progress; they are about giving the people who know the area best a voice—and the Scottish Conservatives will always stand up for our local communities.

I have done something that the cabinet secretary has not done; I have gone to speak to the individuals who will be impacted by these developments. They have genuine concerns, borne out of love for their landscape, their heritage and their homes. They understand the move to net zero—but not at any price. They simply want to have their say, and the proposals from both this devolved Government and the UK Labour Government will deny them their voice.

I have been meeting groups in Turriff, New Deer and Leylodge, and the residents are at their wits’ end. One resident I have to mention is June Morrison, who is becoming a bit of a star on local television. June is already having to put up with a massive new substation in her back garden. On the back of that, there are plans for a huge hydrogen production facility and multiple battery storage facilities. That is the problem: it is the cumulative effect of all those developments together that make them so wrong.

Just this week, The Press and Journal reported on another massive wind farm—this time in Clashindarroch, near Dufftown, by Canadian firm Boralex. Campaigner Trevor Smith accused Boralex of seeking to

“strip the Cabrach of the natural assets which make it such a special place to live”,

and said that the development has become

“a symbol of corporate bullying and greed.”

We simply cannot stand by while our constituents are ignored like that. We cannot keep quiet when our communities are telling us that they do not want these monster pylons, turbines and battery storage facilities to be built together. We cannot allow big companies to greenwash and spend millions on advertising and lobbying to divide our communities. For those companies, this is not about delivering net zero; it is about delivering profits to their shareholders. We cannot ignore the voices of our communities on decisions that affect them so significantly.

I move,

That the Parliament opposes the UK and Scottish governments’ jointly proposed reforms to the consenting process under the Electricity Act 1989, which risk silencing the voices of communities by removing the right to a public inquiry on consent decisions; notes with concern that the Scottish Government has allowed pylons and other electricity infrastructure to be built without the consent of local communities; acknowledges that community groups often do not have the resources to oppose electricity infrastructure, and calls on the Scottish Government to consider how this could be addressed, and implores both governments to abandon these plans and to ensure that community voices are at the heart of the consenting process going forward.

You do not see a way of trying to restrict our purchasing from countries that use coal as their primary source of energy.