SSEN said that it is necessary to fully assess the extensive feedback received as they seek to arrive at solutions that best balance the needs of all stakeholders, alongside meeting the requirements of all relevant planning and environmental policies and the regulatory and legal frameworks under which they are required to operate.
Across their Pathway to 2030 programme of projects, SSEN teams held 48 in-person public consultation events, alongside six virtual consultations, with more than 20 additional community meetings, including several Town Hall public meetings.
In total, SSEN have received well in excess of 6,000 responses to our consultations, reflecting the breadth and extent of engagement undertaken.
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In a statement, SSEN said: "We would like to thank everyone who has engaged with our teams and kindly taken the time to respond to our consultations. We would like to reassure all stakeholders that their feedback is being carefully considered to help inform the ongoing development of these projects, which are crucial to our national endeavor to build a cleaner, more secure and affordable energy system for homes and businesses across Scotland and Great Britain.
"Once we have concluded our assessment of all feedback received and undertaken additional analysis of options, we will then publish Reports on Consultation, covering both our overhead line and substation proposals. These reports will provide a summary of the feedback received through the consultation process, how this feedback has been considered and which overhead line route options and substation locations we plan to take forward to the next stage of the development process.
"These Reports on Consultation will also set out potential changes to the options that we initially consulted on."
Further targeted stakeholder engagement and public consultation will follow the publication and issue of these Reports on Consultation.
This next round of public consultation will set out – and seek feedback on – the potential overhead line route alignments and substations we are minded to progress based on our assessment of stakeholder feedback, analysis of options, and the consideration of all consenting, legal and regulatory requirements.
SSEN will also apply learning from their first round of consultations to increase awareness, accessibility and coverage of consultation events.
