Exclusive:Owner of Scottish castle to head to court as row over Net Zero development escalates
Forest surrounding the castle is earmarked for felling to make way for pylons.
The owner of a Highlands castle has been called to make her case in a dispute over trees near her home being felled to make way for pylons.
Samantha Kane, who owns Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, launched a legal action against removing trees at Carbisdale Forest for a proposed power line close to her grounds.
SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks) announced last week that it plans to submit its planning application for a 400k overhead line between Spittal, near Wick, past Loch Buidhe in Sutherland and down to Beauly, near Inverness, by the end of this month.
Ms Kane, a trans woman and successful barrister who calls herself Lady Carbisdale, received a letter this week from the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.
The letter requested she present her arguments against the move ahead of a court hearing later this year.
She published a video on social media confronting contract workers for the energy giant, who were on site carrying out “ground investigation works”, about the company not having planning permission confirmed.
Ms Kane has been working on a £10 million renovation project within the 2,000 acres of the forest to boost tourism in the area.
She claims the historic property is protected by a covenant with conditions restricting the use of Carbisdale Forest to "forestry and agricultural use.”
She told The Scotsman: “I received a letter from the Scottish ministers taking me to court.
“It’s so they can be released from the obligation to Carbisdale Castle's title burdens to pave the way to what they called a ‘project of critical importance to the Scottish Government's drive to meet its net zero Energy targets.’
“These pylons will cause complete devastation and destroy the castle. If they move this condition then the £10m tourist project will be in ruin.
“And with Carbisdale becoming a major employer here, the community will lose out.
“We will not be able to attract the tourists to maintain the building and the castle will collapse. Scotland will lose one of its protected buildings.”
Ms Kane has carried out restoration work at the castle, which was formerly owned by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association.
She bought the property in 2022 and had previously placed it back on the market amid a row with members of the local community council.
Ms Kane said the team at the castle are not against Net Zero, but that decisions “need to be more responsible” to “protect history and heritage of this country.”
She pointed out the planned grid infrastructure would not cut across the grounds of other notable castles in the north Highlands, such as Dunrobin, Skibo and Ardross.
“They [SSEN] ignored Carbisdale Castle’s concerns completely,” she said.
“They could find a better route to protect a landmark and if it means they have to spend more money finding a different route then so be it.”
SSEN Transmission confirmed it was carrying out ground investigation work near the castle.
The company said the work was “necessary in the development of any new infrastructure” and completed using Permitted Development rights.
A spokesperson for SSE said: “The results will help our teams and contractors to be ready to start construction of the Spittal - Loch Buidhe - Beauly 400kV overhead line project, should it secure consent.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.