Letters: Scotland lost out as a major energy supplier to Europe

The idea of Scotland becoming a world-leading energy industry must certainly stick in the craw of Westminster. But who cares, we will be free of it by 2030. Westminster’s attitude to privatise everything (including the NHS, at least in England) is epitomised by the Scottish and Southern Electricity Company (SSE).

This is notable with the advent of “North Connect”, which is a group set up initially by Norway and Scotland to produce a 400-mile “high-voltage direct current” interconnector to be laid along the sea bed from Peterhead to Samnanger in Norway. This would have been used to export Scottish power to mainland Europe. However, SSE, which was the company involved for Scotland, dropped out of the group because it is a privately owned company which Norway was unwilling to deal with. We have to thank Westminster for that at the end of the day. By the way, this same company was fined £10.5 million by Ofgem for mis-selling gas and electricity to the public.

Another factor the separates us from most other European countries is our so-called “Big Six” energy companies, which all raised their energy prices by a whopping ten percent in 2017. This left almost a million households not being able to afford to heat their homes and/ or cook a meal.

To conclude my thoughts, the North Connect project group is now owned by Norwegian and Swedish companies. Thanks to Westminster, Scotland has lost out as a major energy supplier to Europe. But then, England has its new nuclear power station being built by the Chinese. So that’s okay!

Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

SO, it’s official then. Scotland’s environmental regulator, Sepa, regards fish as more important than people (Sepa in blunt warning after Scottish Water is fined, The National, February 12). Those who pollute our natural watercourses should no doubt be dealt with, yet it seems extraordinary that Sepa can raise a telescope to a blind eye when it comes to urban air quality standards, given the known implications for human health.

In response to a 2016 planning application to build a 265-bed hotel of up to 11 storeys on council-owned land in Edinburgh’s Cowgatehead, the council’s environmental health officials recommended against granting a consent on the grounds that earlier air quality data collection was unreliable, and that the “site could breach the Air Quality Standards even without the proposed development”.

Subsequent air sampling at the location indicated that emitted toxins such as NO2 did indeed exceed acceptable safety levels, and would only be made worse by the “canyon effect” resulting from the presence of more high buildings.

As if the council’s cavalier disregard for its environmental health officers’ recommendations and its failure to carry out an environmental impact assessment – as required under binding EU regulations – wasn’t bad enough, Sepa opted to back the developer.

“Sepa has no objections to the proposals on the grounds of air quality – the proposed new building height is acceptable and any minor impact on air quality is not considered significant enough to merit refusal of planning permission.”

This opinion ignored the fact that the air quality in the Cowgate, which already breaches acceptable limits, will be exacerbated by the construction of a large hotel. Nitrogen oxides, in particular, cause respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia, and pose an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Poor air quality is responsible for an estimated 40,000-50,000 premature deaths per annum in the UK.

Two weeks ago the EU Environment Commissioner stated: “Our first responsibility as the Commission is to the millions of Europeans – young and old, sick and healthy – who suffer from poor air quality. Parents of a child suffering from bronchitis or a daughter of someone with pulmonary disease want to see improvements in air quality as soon as possible.”

Not in Edinburgh, it seems.

David J Black
Edinburgh