Portal Navigation

The information below is intended to assist with navigating the 3D Portal, however there is an Interactive Portal User Guide, which you can access by clicking here

The Map

In order to view the visualisations and navigate the portal, please start by clicking on any of the cameras on the adjacent map. They are situated next to their relevant viewpoints to allow access to areas of interest. Clicking on the Photospheres tab will make the map window full screen, click on any of the other tabs to minimise the map again.

Should you prefer to view the map in satellite, this can be done by clicking the ‘Satellite’ tab at the top right hand corner of the map.

Once you have clicked on a viewpoint, if you want to return to the full map at any point, please click on the project map icon situated down the left-hand side of the map – it is a location pin icon on top of a grid.

If you are viewing a video and would like to return to the overview map, the project map icon is situated at the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Visualisations

Once you click on a visualisation, you will be presented with three tabs across the top middle of the screen; ‘Existing’ ‘Consented’ and ‘Mitigation’

If you click on the existing tab, it will show you the area as it currently stands, without the consented overhead line route nor any landscape mitigation.

If you click on the consented tab, it will show you the consented overhead line route, without any changes nor any landscape mitigation.

If you click on the mitigation tab, it will show you the consented overhead line route, with the landscape mitigation proposals included and some changes to the tower positions (these are permitted due to being within the Limit of Deviation (LOD) of 100m).

Landscape Mitigation

Tarbert Community Council expressed their wish to receive more information regarding the Landscape Mitigation proposals. SSEN Transmission has undertaken the following:

• On 14th November 2019, SSEN Transmission attended a Tarbert and Skipness Community Council meeting, to share visualisations of the overhead line at Tarbert, describe the overhead line development process and explain details of the Scottish Governments consent decision, the representations received and the landscape plan condition.


• On 30th January 2020, members of the SSEN Transmission project team, a landscape architect and 3D Webtech, held a workshop with members of Tarbert and Skipness Community Council to identify key public viewpoints for landscape mitigation consideration.


• In late May 2020, the 3D Portal was updated to include transitional clips as identified by the Community Council in order to view the visual effect of the new overhead line at Tarbert, prior to the landscape mitigation proposals being included in the model.

Throughout Spring and Summer 2020, works progressed towards developing the landscape mitigation plan, which included extensive review of forestry management plans to ensure proposals were viable.

Discussions with landowners were also required to be undertaken once plans had been drafted and reviewed, prior to sharing information publicly.

The landscape mitigation proposal has now been completed, and we have updated this portal to best illustrate the plan, as we recognise it is difficult to gain an effective understanding of the effect from a PDF document.

Mitigation Proposal – October 2020

The visualisations have been updated to allow for the following:

• Micro-siting of towers 205 and 206 (slight movements to their positions within the consented limit of deviation). Tower 205 will now be positioned 7.4m lower.


• A series of images that show the landscape mitigation from planting, mid-growth and maturity stages.

Note: This model was created by 3DW on behalf of SSEN Transmission to allow members of the local community to view a 3-dimensional visualisation of the overhead line proposals from key local areas and individual postcodes during the pre-application consultation events in September 2017. These visualisations provide a scaled representation of the proposals within the local environment and incorporate a number of data sets such as OS mapping, aerial imagery, digital terrain mapping (DTM) & national tree mapping (NTM). 3DW are a partner of Ordnance Survey but also use other suppliers such as BlueSky and Emapsite for these data sets.

This portal has been created to provide interactive 360 degree visualisations from key viewpoints in and around Tarbert and transitional video clips of key approaches to Tarbert. These were identified in collaboration with the Tarbert & Skipness Community Council, to provide the community with additional visualisations of the overhead line. The model is being used to assist with the development of SSEN Transmissions landscape mitigation proposals required under the Section 37 consent.

Please submit any comments or questions to helen.batey@sse.com

Project Information

Project Requirement

The aim of the Inveraray – Crossaig project is to reinforce the existing transmission network in Argyll and Kintyre by replacing the overhead electricity transmission power line that runs between Inveraray and Crossaig, which was installed in the 1950s and is reaching the end of its operational life.

Project History

A series of public consultation events were held in various locations along the 81km route, including Inveraray, Lochgilphead, Ardrishaig, Tarbert, Skipness and Carradale in October 2014, March 2016 and September/October 2017 to gain the public’s views on the proposals.

In July 2018, SSEN Transmission submitted a Section 37 application to the Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit, to install a 275kV overhead line between Inveraray substation and Crossaig Substation. In July 2019, SSEN Transmission received consent from the Energy Minister for the replacement of the line.

As part of its consent decision, the Scottish Government attached a number of conditions, including the following:

Landscape Mitigation

Prior to the construction of Towers 123, 124, 205,206,207…. Details of proposed landscape mitigation in the form of tree planting shall be submitted to the Planning Authority for their approval or such alternative or such alternative tree planting proposals as may otherwise be agreed in writing by the Planning Authority.

Reason: To mitigate local landscape impacts of the Development.