Parliament Workbench
Data: Official Report to 12 Nov 2026

Official Report · Committee

Current Petitions

Electricity Transmission Lines (Underground Cabling) (PE1087)

Tuesday 19 February 2008 Public Petitions Committee Petitions 6 contributions · 4 speakers

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The record

6 contributions
Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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PE1087, from Nancy Gardner, calls on the Parliament to consider and debate the use of underground and, where appropriate, undersea cabling for new electricity transmission lines such as the proposed line between Beauly and Denny. The committee agreed to seek responses to the issues raised in the petition from a variety of organisations.Do members have any strong views on how to proceed with the petition? We should perhaps bear in mind that the public inquiry has not yet reported and that, once it has, ministers will then have to make a determination on its report.

John Farquhar Munro LD Ross, Skye and Inverness West
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There has been a very heated debate on and protracted inquiry into not only the Beauly to Denny issue but other transmission lines. The proposal to put lines underground has been debated at length, but the argument against it is, of course, cost. Some transmission and generating companies have suggested that the ultimate answer is a subsea cable. I do not know about that, but I know that a tremendous campaign against the erection of that transmission line has sprung up all the way from Ullapool down to Denny. If we wait until the results of the inquiry are known, it might be too late.

Rhoda Grant Lab Highlands and Islands
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Given that a publicly funded inquiry is on-going, we should suspend any further consideration of the petition until after it has reported, consider its findings and take the petition from there.

Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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I am minded to take that course.

Robin Harper Green Lothians
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I agree that we should keep the petition open but suspend any further consideration of it until after the inquiry report has been published. In response to John Farquhar Munro, I say that transporting electricity is just as important as transporting goods by lorry and the cost per mile of burying an electricity cable is a fraction of that of building a motorway.

Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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I think that the M74 is a very good motorway; it will certainly benefit my constituents. I had to get that in, Robin.In any case, we should wait for the public inquiry to report, as it might well throw up issues in addition to those highlighted in the petition. We will come back to the petition when appropriate and when ministers have responded to the inquiry's findings.

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