Letters

Of all the catastrophically stupid decisions ever made by UK politicians, the decision by Labour/snp to shut down our own oil and gas industry decades prematurely must rank near the top. It now appears we are already importing oil and gas – which, if we were to believe Ed Miliband, should have long ago been superseded by renewables.

So, we are buying in a seller’s international market a source of energy that nature had bestowed beneath the seas around these islands in abundance, but in order to please the eco zealots is close to being totally abandoned. Oil and gas are not infinite, and the day will come that there is no more, but acting decades earlier than required worsened a situation that was well in hand.

Our politicians should forget the eco brownie points and virtue signalling and legislate to provide warmth and energy security to the people they represent and who pay their enormous salaries.

Alexander Mckay

Edinburgh

On 3 September, community councils in the Highlands were notified that the proposed Spittal to Beauly overhead power line was now up for consultation. We have been given until 6 October to respond and have already been told by Government that this date will not be extended.

The application comprises 248 documents, many of which are lengthy and technical, and has taken SSEN several years to prepare. If built, this 107-mile power line will change the Highland land

scape for a generation. Yet we are supposed to review and comment in a month! Community councillors are unpaid volunteers and we have no money to pay for expert advice.

This appears to be an attempt to deny democracy, a scandal.

At the request of the Highlands’ community councils, our elected representatives have already agreed to support a call for a Planning Inquiry Commission, to review the whole Highlands electricity project.

John Heathcote Secretary, Contin Community

Council, Contin, Highland