Community Campaign · Aberdeenshire

Save the Deveron Valley

Your valley. Your voice.

A community campaign asking for proper scrutiny of SSEN Transmission's proposed Strathbogie Hub — covering the fairness of the site-selection process, local roads, farming, wildlife, water, landscape, and the cumulative impact of several overlapping pressures on one valley.

Local knowledge matters. Written responses help make sure it becomes part of the record.

New working draft

The Full Impact Ledger

SSEN has told Scotland what Pathway to 2030 may add. We are asking what it may cost.

This new working draft asks for equal evidence on roads, homes, wildlife, water, community burden, future infrastructure, carbon, waste, reuse and the green claims being made.

A benefits ledger is not a balance sheet.

The SSEN feedback deadline has passed — the scrutiny continues

What can I do now?

Please sign and share the petition. It helps show the level of community concern and support for a fair, transparent, evidence-led site-selection process for the proposed Strathbogie Hub.

The petition is not a substitute for formal planning comments when a planning application is lodged. It's a visible way to keep public concern on record while the process continues.

Sign and share the petition Site Contents Read what happens next Earlier SSEN correspondence

Phase 2 — Scrutiny and evidence

Community Evidence Tools

The first SSEN feedback deadline has passed. The scrutiny has not.

Community Evidence Tools What We Know Sign the Petition

Please read our Community Code of Conduct before commenting, sharing evidence or contacting public bodies on behalf of the campaign.

What is Save the Deveron Valley?

We are a community campaign based in the Deveron Valley, Aberdeenshire. We exist because the valley is facing several overlapping industrial, infrastructure and development pressures — and local people have not yet been shown a joined-up assessment of how these pressures interact.

We are asking one straightforward question: who is responsible for assessing the whole picture?

"I don't know what to do, and nobody is listening."

"I understand what's happening, I know how to respond, and my local knowledge is part of the record."

Important — Please Read

Save the Deveron Valley is not anti-renewables, and we are not opposed to the electricity grid being improved where genuinely needed.

We are asking whether the right site, the right route, the right scale, and the right assessment process are being used — and whether local people have been given enough clear information to participate meaningfully before decisions are made.

We are also asking whether lower-impact alternatives — including existing corridors, underground options, subsea routes, storage, demand reduction, and whole-system planning — have been properly assessed and explained to the public.

We are not asking for harm to be moved from one farming family or community to another. We are asking for a fair, transparent, evidence-led process before any preferred site is selected.

What We Are Asking For

Ask 1

Cumulative Assessment

Assess the combined impact of relevant overlapping pressures on the Deveron Valley together — not each project in isolation, one at a time.

Ask 2

Clear Public Information

Publish the full connected infrastructure picture, explain the comparison of all shortlisted sites, and give communities a meaningful opportunity to respond before any preferred site is selected.

Ask 3

Protection for Wildlife, Water and Sensitive Ecology

Ensure protected habitats, priority species, river ecology and sensitive conservation information are assessed properly through appropriate statutory and specialist channels.

Ask 4

Independent Road Safety Assessment

Assess whether rural roads, bridges, school routes, farm access routes and emergency access can safely carry the construction and operational traffic proposed — across all developments, not just one.

Ask 5

Meaningful Community Participation

Give local people enough information, time, and follow-up answers to respond properly before any site selection decision is made. Asking for feedback before key assessments exist is not meaningful participation.

Four useful things you can do now

The first SSEN feedback deadline has passed. The evidence record is still growing.

1

Sign and verify the petition

Add your name, then check your email if Change.org asks you to verify your signature.

376 verified voices — 124 to go.

Sign the petition

Already signed? Send it directly to one person who knows, uses or cares about the Deveron Valley.

2

Share local evidence

Send photographs, road knowledge, flooding history, land notices, river knowledge, historic-place information or other details decision-makers may miss.

Do not post exact sensitive wildlife, archaeology or private-water locations publicly.

Open Community Evidence Tools
3

Follow the connected processes

The proposed Strathbogie Hub, Shetland 2 infrastructure and the Beauly–Peterhead overhead-line inquiry must not be understood as disconnected fragments.

Read What Happens Next
4

Contact the right body

Planning, pollution, wildlife, enforcement and formal consent questions may belong with different organisations.

Open Who Decides What? Open Who to Contact

Share Your Local Knowledge

Whether you attended an SSEN session, live nearby, use the roads, farm the land, care about wildlife, know the river, walk the area, run a local business, or simply love this place — your experience helps build a clearer community record.

Which sessions you attended
Whether your questions were answered
Road, bridge and traffic concerns
Farming and land-use concerns
Flooding, drainage and water
Landscape and quiet-place concerns
Wildlife observations
Local business and tourism impact
What you wish decision-makers understood

New — SSEN Notification

To help us understand whether affected households were properly notified, we are gathering evidence about how people heard about the SSEN public information sessions.

Please do not give your full postcode unless you are completely comfortable doing so. Examples: a village name, road area, or postcode sector such as AB54 7. This information will be treated as confidential campaign evidence and will not be published in a way that identifies individual households.

SSEN Public Information Sessions

Only complete this section if you attended one of the SSEN public information sessions. If you did not attend, you can leave this section blank and submit the form.

Please do not share exact protected species locations, private neighbour details, or anything you would not want included in confidential campaign evidence.
Please do not share exact locations of sensitive wildlife or protected species through public comments or surveys. Sensitive ecology should be handled through appropriate confidential channels. If you have urgent concerns about possible wildlife crime, contact Police Scotland on 101. For general protected-species or habitat concerns, contact NatureScot (enquiries@nature.scot) or your relevant planning authority.

Stay Updated

Campaign email updates are coming very soon — including action reminders, plain-English summaries, response guidance, and next steps after the SSEN deadline.

In the meantime, follow us on Facebook for daily updates:

Follow @SaveTheDeveron on Facebook ↗

You can also reach us at hello@savethedeveron.org

Email sign-up with double opt-in confirmation coming shortly. Your details will never be added to any list without your clear consent.

The first SSEN feedback deadline has passed

The scrutiny has not.

Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback, shared local knowledge, signed the petition, or helped a neighbour take part. Ground investigations are now under way at both shortlisted sites, and a future planning application is expected to bring another stage for public participation.

Sign and Share the Petition Site Contents Read What Happens Next

Privacy

We will use your information only for Save the Deveron Valley campaign communication, evidence gathering, consultation updates and related community action.

We will not publish your personal contact details. Survey responses may be summarised or quoted anonymously unless you give explicit permission otherwise.

We take privacy seriously because this campaign may involve local concerns, planning matters, environmental evidence, and people who may not feel safe speaking publicly.

Our full Privacy Policy covers how we collect, use, store and protect your information — including survey responses, email sign-up, witness statements, photographs, and community evidence. Data controller: Save the Deveron Valley / Jean D Reid.

For privacy questions or data requests, please contact us at hello@savethedeveron.org or via the Save the Deveron Valley Facebook page. The full Privacy Policy is available at SaveTheDeveron.org/privacy-policy.html.