By Eric Nicolson

A DRAMATIC legal bid was made yesterday to bring a premature end to Scotland’s biggest and most expensive public inquiry, currently being held in Perth.

Lawyers representing objectors to the controversial Beauly to Denny power line have lodged a submission to the inquiry that at the completion of the applicant’s evidence the team of three Scottish Executive reporters should recommend refusal there and then without hearing further evidence.

It has been claimed that a “fatal flaw” has been found in the case presented by the applicants in that the regulator, OFGEM, has failed in its statutory duties with regard to considering environmental impacts and sustainability of the £230 million development.

The inquiry is due to hear evidence at Perth’s Quality Hotel until May, at which point it will move to Inverness and Newtonmore, before returning to Perth and finishing at Stirling in December.

It is expected to cost several million pounds.

Helen McDade, of the John Muir Trust and convener of the Beauly Denny Landscape Group of objectors, said, “These are material considerations and our legal advice is that, as a matter of law, Scottish ministers cannot grant consent unless they take these into consideration.

“There is no evidence that OFGEM carried out its statutory duties as regards environmental matters and sustainable development and therefore the application is fatally flawed.”

Davie Black, of the Ramblers Association, added, “The level of disregard shown to the legislative and planning process is offensive, especially when we are considering a project that will be the largest industrial development seen in the Highlands.

“We believe that the application can no longer succeed and that to pursue it would be a waste of time and public money. The inquiry should be brought to an end now.”

The Beauly to Denny power line proposal, which will cut through parts of Perthshire has been highly controversial from the outset.

The 220-kilometre route, with 600 pylons (up to 60 metres in height) has brought about over 17,000 objections.

David Gibson, Mountaineering Council of Scotland, said, “The level of objections illustrate the intrinsic value people place on Scotland’s mountain landscape heritage.”

Perth and Kinross Council is among four authorities objecting to the Scottish and Southern Energy application.

The inquiry will reconvene today when an Executive reporter will rule on the legal challenge.