The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday June 04 2025 #NetZero

The Scotsman

Dale speaks to rural affairs correspondent Katharine Hay about her Scotsman series on Net Zero

Transcript

00:00hello and welcome to the scotsman's daily video bulletin for this wednesday my name is dale

00:05miller i'm deputy editor of the scotsman i'm joined by our rural affairs correspondent catherine hay

00:12catherine we're going to get to talking about the net zero series that we're running throughout

00:17this week very shortly but firstly the front page today's scotsman and we were leading on

00:24um a bit of a heartbreaking story mothers for your hours of travel as a baby unit to be downgraded

00:32from our deputy political editor david bowl significant concerns about how far mothers

00:38will have to go if in maternity services are downgraded as a planned you can read that full

00:46story at scotsman.com just head to the health of the politics tab in the navigation bars if you can't

00:52find them otherwise and murdo fraser writing about the smp benefits black hole and his concerns around

01:02that you can find that through our opinion section again available via the navigation bar on the home

01:09page catherine we launched on monday series we call the net zero dilemma it's looking at effectively the

01:17infrastructure that is planned and has already gone in place across the country talking about things

01:23like wind turbines but also we know visible power grids for the system and just what that means for

01:31communities on the ground why it's important from an industry perspective but the arm wrestle between

01:37the two about accommodating it but doing so without impacting on those people that live in areas that

01:46are finding this infrastructure going in place can you just can you talk us through some of the parts

01:52you started with um a piece on the the communities impacted particularly in some areas where uh wind

01:58farms and wind turbines have become quite prevalent across the country yeah so i guess um the whole point

02:05of the series is just to add different voices that are um speaking out and um as the as we're pushing

02:11more towards net zero and trying to meet uh the very ambitious targets that the governments have and

02:18uh in that race in that rush for net zero there are communities that are feeling left behind and

02:24abandoned which is what the first piece of the series really um kind of brings to light uh it opens with

02:31the some members of the community who are living among the largest uh onshore wind farm in in the uk

02:39and they're just talking about um just the impact that that's had on obviously the surrounding

02:43landscape and what it means um for for the future of their their home and their communities um but also

02:50the series looks at people who looks at areas of the country um where they're going to be seeing a lot

02:57more coming so there's this kind of fear and anticipation over what landscape scale change is going to be

03:02it's going to be happening um but it's important to note as well that there are some communities that

03:08uh welcome some of the what they call community benefit fund which uh it's actually not mandatory

03:14but it's an optional uh gesture that developers can give to communities and there are some pockets

03:19of the country where uh communities are really happy with uh how those have worked out for example

03:25down in dunpreys and galloway in a place called new loose um there's a fantastic pub um that's being

03:31headed by an award-winning chef and somebody's running the post office full-time and all of that funding has come

03:36from local wind farms um but the piece really does kind of i guess it's a bit more sympathetic towards

03:42the people who are really seeing quite a big industrial change um to be honest i think at a

03:47scale that we've never seen before i mean um the second piece of the series talks about what we need to

03:53do in terms of infrastructure and development in the next five years up until 2020 and they're talking

03:59about just onshore wind farms alone they're talking about doubling so you already have uh communities

04:07that are feeling overwhelmed um that are worried about the applications that are rolling in um i mean

04:13one industry uh voice said that the onshore wind farm is particularly buoyant at the moment and that's

04:20because there's a lot of applications coming in um and so yeah there is there is that that sort of

04:28that concern um and i think just in five years to see all of this development happening is the biggest

04:36change that so many parts of scotland will have seen probably ever i mean we're talking about islands

04:40like lewis on the outer hebrides um sky and not to mention other mainland areas which have never seen

04:49this kind of industrial revolution i guess i mean obviously we've had the you know in the 60s

04:53there were dams we've had coal mines but there are some areas in scotland that have never sort

04:57of really seen such uh developments and it's happening with with net zero goals um so it's

05:05it's just a series to sort of highlight the changes that are happening on the landscape scale

05:10and for communities but also the voices from the industry saying how much we need to change um how

05:16much is going to be coming um but one thing i've really picked up on is just there is quite a

05:20disconnect uh between what industry is asking for and saying that we need and what people on the

05:27ground uh are thinking or you know saying um and it's just been quite interesting to see how how far

05:34apart some of the some of the voices are given these communities in the area where we have to generate this

05:40energy um but they're not i don't think it's it doesn't seem that it's been communicated enough

05:45to them how much um how significantly their homeland is having to having to change uh in this race for

05:51net zero and catherine really particularly from that first part in the series really emotive language

05:57um for some of those communities and residents impacted uh referring to you know wastelands uh new

06:04scottish clearances um you know this is how they are feeling on the ground about the level of

06:10development but i want to ask you as well you've walked through some of the landscapes where the

06:15initial infrastructure has gone up or it's planned and it's going to grow up go up sorry how noticeable

06:22was it as part of hay's way when you're walking around the country um and is the the reaction or the

06:29depth of feeling from the people on the ground that strong yes so another um just short uh piece

06:36i've put out is just about the the topic of nimbyism um and i've just uh you know questioned is it

06:43becoming the new normal because walking around scotland i think in every single local authority

06:47area that i've walked and this includes communities from residents you know just on the ground to to

06:53local authority areas to councillors um there's a lot of upset and there's quite a lot of applications um

06:59coming in and and subsequently being objected to by by various people um so i think it's difficult i

07:08couldn't say obviously you know i can't speak for everybody but there's definitely um conflict i would

07:14say in every single region i've walked through in terms of visual um i've probably walked through

07:19areas of scotland where it will be the last time we'll see them looking the way that they are um

07:25developments are noticeable i've seen lots of wind farms seen lots of commercial forestry

07:30uh but as one another industry person who i spoke to said that at the moment it's still managing to

07:35kind of trickle along without too much being noticed but i think that is about to change quite

07:40drastically in the next five years with just what's to come as i mentioned earlier with these um

07:46sort of targets to double the onshore wind capacity for example um so for example sky which is one of the

07:52pieces i've written about um which came out today they're you know for an island that has a few uh

07:58wind farms at the moment they're about to see a new um well there are plans for a new port to built

08:05just to transport turbine blades um they've got applications for another nine wind farms whether

08:12they're in sort of planning or waiting to be consented um so we're talking about sort of pockets of the

08:17the country where i mean sky as we all know is one of the most well the most visited place i think

08:22outside edinburgh because of its landscape but that landscape is um it's probably going to change quite

08:26a lot in in the coming years with all these developments happening um so yes i'd say that

08:32whilst walking around scotland i've seen quite a lot of uh developments going up i mean wind farms are

08:39definitely certainly in what they call hot spot areas like the borders dumfries and galloway

08:44caithness um argyll and butte as well but yeah i feel what i've seen is is probably the last of

08:52of what these places will will look like um with with the change that's that's coming

08:58and we also know katherine that against the uh the backdrop of um of grangemouth um having effectively

09:05finished up or winding up as a facility pressure on the north sea there is a lot of pressure to move away

09:12from a fossil fuel driven um economy business and a lot of the the wind and the net zero infrastructure

09:20is about um moving us away from that but it comes with a i guess a physical infrastructure legacy as

09:27well which um can be difficult for those communities that um that are exposed to it and look you can read

09:33the um whole series at scotsman.com we are putting out a separate part each day this week as katherine

09:42says um across the day so far there's uh features on the communities impacted the industry viewpoint and

09:48the amount that it needs to be scaled up and also the situation on the olive sky with a public inquiry

09:54upcoming that could set a precedent for future decisions around this we also look at government

09:59policy and other areas throughout the rest of the week to complete the series it's been a big project

10:06by katherine that's a fascinating read so now please do take the time to uh to tune in uh you

10:12can follow us on facebook uh instagram blue sky and x and all social media channels and please go

10:19out and pick up a copy of the paper tomorrow when we'll have the latest part in the net zero

10:24series thanks

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