Vote for the Corridor's Future on July 4th

Candidates Responses to APAG Questions

On July 4th, residents along the transmission corridor face a crucial decision: who will represent our communities and fight for our future? This is your chance to exercise your most valuable right – your vote.

Many of us are struggling to choose the candidate who will truly stand up for the "Corridor Communities" without hesitation. We need someone who will help us prevent a potential disaster that could forever change our lives and communities.

As you know, APAG is a non-partisan action group. We've reached out to politicians across the spectrum, visiting their offices, hosting them in our homes, and inviting them to community meetings.

To help you make an informed decision, we sent the same six questions to all candidates. Their responses will give you some insight into their positions and how they would support us if elected.

See the Questions and Candidate Responses Here

1. Do you consider our countryside to be one of Scotland's greatest assets contributing to tourism, local businesses and jobs?

Dan Peña

For #1 and #2, Yes. If the land is properly managed then tourism, agriculture and business can all thrive – all will help to create jobs. The challenge is getting the balance right and having proper infrastructure in place to support tourism.

Stephen Kerr

I believe this passionately.

Dave Doogan

Yes, tourism and agriculture are two of our key economic drivers nationally and locally with both being a function of our unique landscapes.

2. Do you value the preservation of prime agricultural land?

Dan Peña

For #1 and #2, Yes. If the land is properly managed then tourism, agriculture and business can all thrive – all will help to create jobs. The challenge is getting the balance right and having proper infrastructure in place to support tourism.

Stephen Kerr

Local agricultural jobs and food security are of paramount importance to our area and our nation.

Dave Doogan

Indeed, Angus is the garden of Scotland as I have highlighted many times in Parliament. We have the most productive land anywhere in Scotland. I was delighted to see the enormous solar farm proposed for land south of Forfar rejected by Angus council as this is entirely inappropriate land use.

3. If elected would you push for alternatives to OHLs such as subsea or undergrounding, having investigated up to date comparative costings?

Dan Peña

Yes, but the critical part of the question is accurate comparative costings. UK does not have a good track record on major projects in terms of delivery on time or cost.

Stephen Kerr

Yes. In countries such as Germany and Finland equivalent power lines have been very successfully put underground. There is no reason why we cannot do this in Scotland too.

Dave Doogan

Yes, however if elected this would be a continuation of my work on this priority in support of the people of Angus. I have raised the autocratic nature of the these proposals, the malign role of the ESO and the incompetent consultations by SSEN numerous times.

You can see just one of my contributions here from 13:30:30 and if you wish to watch the whole debate you will see many English MPs complaining about the very same thing which is awkward for Scottish Tory politicians who have sought to gaslight local people into believing this issue is of the SNP Scottish Government's making. To be clear, I am prioritising a subsea HVDC solution for the two pylon lines planned for Angus.

4. If elected, will you push for improvements to the UK Government community benefit scheme so that residents, agricultural businesses and landowners impacted by new electrical infrastructure will be meaningfully compensated?

Dan Peña

I do not know enough about the scheme or how it is funded. It is also difficult to define the level of impact and what constitutes meaningful compensation. My guess is that such processes will be laborious and not necessarily deliver satisfaction. The key is for residents who think they will be affected (adversely – some benefit from these projects) to raise concerns from the get-go and not wait until the project has passed the point of no return.

Stephen Kerr

Yes. I would also push for additional compensation from power companies.

Dave Doogan

Yes. In fact I have already assisted farmers in Angus with claims to SSEN on existing wayleave issues.

5. If elected, will you call for an urgent Parliamentary debate to stop the uncontrolled exploitation and industrialisation of the North East of Scotland by energy companies putting profit before communities, agriculture and the environment?

Dan Peña

It is not a Yes/No question. Investment from the private sector is essential and something to welcome. It creates wealth and jobs. Again, the key is having credible and enforceable safeguards in place from project inception.

Stephen Kerr

Yes I would call for an urgent debate and I would talk about it in my maiden speech

Dave Doogan

Yes.

6. Do you believe that the proposed SSEN OHL transmission line from Kintore to Tealing should be abandoned.

Dan Peña

The question is irrelevant if the project has passed a point of no return – because as I understand the current information, as I have said – the cow is already out of the barn! But if it hasn’t, are the alternatives credible from a cost point of view? My recollection from the data, is that the alternatives are prohibitively expensive, and we have yet to find a money tree.

Stephen Kerr

I believe the power lines should be undergrounded. We need the sustainable energy which the lines will carry but that can’t be at the expense of our farmland and landscape.

Dave Doogan

Abandoned is the wrong word as it does not speak to a solution. I believe it can be demonstrated that the OHL option is based on perceived pace and construction price advantages, but that when when all financial costs (as opposed to solely price) are taken into consideration including; compensation, wayleave, community benefit costs, loss of production, costs of bio security, disaggregation of costs across the system etc, a sub sea solution will be clearly preferable.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit these responses.

End of responses

We received no further responses from the remaining candidates.

We sincerely thank those who took the time to respond. We know you'll carefully consider their answers, with other information you have gathered, and draw your own conclusions.

This continues to be a challenging and stressful time for everyone. However, our campaign has always operated with honour, respect, and professionalism.