Report on findings and recommendations 2024/25

The Background

As a stakeholder-led business, SSEN Transmission is always striving to enhance how we engage with the wide range of communities and stakeholders on our Pathway to Net Zero in 2030. Using both external feedback and internal review at every stage of our work, allows us to build on years of effective engagement as the Transmission Operator in the North of Scotland.

The Infrastructure Stakeholder Engagement Survey specifically focusses on those in the community who are closest to our projects and as such, this gives us the opportunity to have our engagement independently appraised by stakeholders who are theoretically the most affected by the development of new transmission infrastructure and we can use their experiences and feedback to positively contribute to our continuous improvement.

Under the RIIO-T2 price control, which runs from April 2021 to March 2026, the new Infrastructure Stakeholder Engagement Survey (ISES) for Transmission Operators (TO’s) was introduced by Ofgem, who has set the requirement for TO’s to continuously assess and improve their stakeholder engagement, using a qualitative survey as a measurement on an annual basis. Ofgem’s intention for this survey is to encourage engagement with stakeholders that may have been impacted by recent infrastructure projects to understand their experience, and ultimately how this can be improved. This will ensure a transparent process for feedback between the TO and their stakeholders.

There is no financial incentive for SSEN Transmission to carry out this survey.

The Survey

Our survey aims to gain an understanding of stakeholder’s experiences of engagement and how they have been impacted by infrastructure projects, both directly and indirectly. We set the following objectives:

  • To understand stakeholder perceptions, experiences and satisfaction of engagement, and compare with previous years.
  • To understand what stakeholders impacted by new infrastructure projects think are the priorities when engaging with SSEN Transmission.
  • To understand what SSEN Transmission can do to better prepare the public in the lead up to consultation events.

Methodology

Using an independent market research company, Impact MR, there was a multiple-stage approach to this research. Firstly, an online survey which asked a mixture of quantitative and qualitative questions. This was followed by 15-minute telephone interviews with a random sample of participants, designed to draw out more detailed, anecdotal feedback and discuss recommendations for improvements that can feed into our action plan.

The third part of the survey will be carried out by SSEN Transmission. Over the coming months, we will host a series of focus group sessions with a variety of stakeholders to develop our priorities and key actions to address the feedback received from the survey.

The report

SSEN Transmission understands that the development of large-scale energy infrastructure can bring significant challenges to the communities where these projects are located. From the initial launch and design stage of the project, progressing to the planning phases and then to construction and operational phases of the projects, the presence of new infrastructure—such as transmission lines, substations, and related facilities—can bring concerns covering a variety of topics such as land use, environmental impact, property value, visual impact, and long-term community well-being.

The report highlights a number of areas of concern for communities impacted by new infrastructure and crucially, provides insight into how we can enhance our engagement.

We acknowledge these concerns and recognise the importance of communities having regular opportunities to voice them to us.

Community engagement is an important pillar of our approach to developing our projects, whether that be through public exhibitions and consultation events, in-person meetings or communications by phone or email. Our dedicated community and stakeholder engagement teams are given a mandate from SSEN Transmission to engage at every stage of our projects, to be accessible and responsive to the communities in which we work and to gather feedback which we can use to inform the design and delivery of our projects. It is vital to develop effective, two-way communication in relation to new infrastructure projects, which is mutually beneficial to us and to our stakeholders. This is why we are committed to working with affected communities to collaboratively develop actions that improve and enhance our engagement.

Over the coming months, we will host a number of focus group sessions with stakeholders across the country with a view to developing clear and tangible actions in response to the recommendations in the report. Upon completion of these workshops, we will share the action plan and also updates on the progress we make towards addressing any of the identified areas for improvement.

We’d like to thank those who participated in the online survey and telephone survey for their time and constructive feedback.

The full independent report is available to download below.