A homeowner has sued an energy giant amid claims that its plans for new electricity pylons near his property have reduced its value by £125,000.
Matt Gready from Dunecht, Aberdeenshire, alleges he was just about to sell his home for around £700,000 before energy firm SSE announced their pylon plans.
As a result of the electric power lines set to be installed just 230 metres from his house, the buyer pulled out.
And when the home was eventually sold, he claims he was ‘forced’ to sell it for £125,000 less than its initial value.
Now, the father is suing the energy company for himself and thousands of other county locals whose homes have been impacted by SSE’s pylon proposals.
He highlighted that while SSE branded itself as a ‘champion of fair and just energy transition’ they were ‘destroying’ the values of thousands of properties.
It comes as the company, which is one of three UK transmission line operators, announced plans to build 350 pylons from Kintore to Tealing, Angus.
Not only did it spark 10,600 objections from locals, but caused the sale of Mr Gready’s home to collapse entirely, he claims.
‘After seven more buyers pulled out, I was forced to sell at £575,000,’ he told The Telegraph.
He requested SSE compensate him for the loss, however, the firm has refused to engage and denied liability entirely.
‘They told me they didn’t want to offer compensation for fear of setting a precedent, but their plans caused me a direct loss of £125,000 and SSE should compensate me for that.’
Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West has setn a letter to the Scottish Government and the energy firm, saying those affected by their pylon plans should be compensated.
The lives of locals have been ‘turned upside down’ by the ‘hugely damaging’ proposals.
‘Neither SSE nor the Government have any understanding of the magnitude of this issue and the misery it is causing for communities who are fearing for their future,’ the politician added.
The 350 pylons stretching from Kintore to Tealing were part of the company’s £22billion Pathway to 2030 investment programme.
The initiative will see electricity carried from wind farms from rural areas of the country to cities in England and southern Scotland.
Holyrood and Westminster have both declared that plans like these were key to decarbonising the country’s electricity system.
Power transmission firms say pylons have no or very little impact on the value of homes, as residents become accustomed to the buzzing noises they produce.
Meanwhile, research from the London School of Economics has warned that such schemes determined the exact opposite.
Professor Steve Gibbons and former PhD student, Cheng Keat Tang, concluded that a property’s value dropped by 20 per cent when pylons were built within 250 metres.
The research suggested that compensating homes for pylon schemes could become ‘very large’ as 28 million homes are located within 1500 metres of the structures, resulting in a £24billion in 2024 house prices.
Researchers also forewarned that pylons could have a similar devastating impact as wind and solar farms.
An SSE spokesman said: ‘We’re sorry to hear of Mr Gready’s concerns and have been in regular dialogue with him to better understand these. In this case, we don’t consider that a legal basis has been established to substantiate an award of compensation.
‘In developing our proposals, we have carefully balanced a range of environmental, technical and economic considerations.’
