By John Lamont MP
Protecting the environment is a noble cause and one that we should all support, but it must be done with pragmatism, common sense and respect for local communities.
The approach should not be ideological, inflexible and dictated from the top down by people who rarely venture away from the centre of Edinburgh or London.
Unfortunately, that is what is now happening under the cover of 'net zero', a phrase which has been polluted by zealots who demand absolute adherence to the policies they insist must be enacted, regardless of the harm they cause.
These extremists have no respect for views that are contrary to their own, no regard for rural areas, and no care for the outcome of their dogmatic proposals on jobs, businesses or homeowners.
This is most evident in the rush to install energy infrastructure all over the Scottish Borders, which has been inundated with applications for all kinds of developments from wind farms to solar projects to battery energy storage units to data centres to mega-pylons.
One site, which I went to view earlier this month, would replace natural habitats and a special conservation area with a substation, battery energy storage system and a solar farm. Its combined size would be the equivalent of 40 football pitches.
The biggest, backed by the UK Labour government, is the proposal to construct 80 kilometres of mega-pylons right through our beautiful Borders countryside.
The views of local people are being ignored and alternative proposals are not even being considered.
We all understand the need for a modern, resilient electricity network, but there must be a balance that recognises the natural habits that would be destroyed, the farmland that would be lost for good, and the countryside that would be spoiled. All of those outcomes would have a deeply damaging consequence on jobs, businesses and economic growth.
That's why I recently brought a debate to the House of Commons on the impact of electricity infrastructure in rural communities.
The Borders is expected to bear the bulk of the burden of net zero. Local people feel that projects are being done to them, rather than with them.
This is not how things should be done. Residents should have the right to decide what happens on their own doorstep. I believe power must belong with the people on the ground, not those who will never know the cost of their carelessness.
