MSP for Stirling Evelyn Tweed has visited an SSEN Distribution site in Callander as work to implement their Winter Preparedness Programme continues ahead of winter storm season.
The Winter Preparedness Programme is led by the Scottish Resilience Partnership (SRP) and is one of a series of measures following Storm Arwen to ensure Scotland is better prepared for significant weather events.
After the destruction caused by Storm Arwen last year, which left forests destroyed and thousands of homes without power, huge calls were made for better resilience by both MSPs and the public.
Following a Scottish Parliament debate in January, led by Evelyn Tweed MSP, the Scottish Government announced plans for a storm resilience review and sought recommendations which would ensure Scotland was better prepared for future storms.
Evelyn Tweed said; “It was hugely encouraging to visit SSEN in Callander to discuss the work being done and see how SSEN are implementing a number of recommendations made by OFGEM in the wake of Storm Arwen. These include enhanced protection of contingency measures, which will help improve response time in future major storm events. They have also dedicated funding in place to support community and personal resilience projects which will help protect the most vulnerable.
“Storm Arwen inflicted huge damage on our communities, which I hope we will never have to see happen again. In the wake of every bad event comes lessons that can be learnt, and I am pleased that SSEN are putting such focus into implementing the recommendations that have been made. By working with SRP and the communities on the Winter Prepared Programme, we can plug every gap and strengthen every weakness that Storm Arwen so brutally exposed.”
Samantha O’Connor, Regional Customer Relationship Manager at SSEN Distribution, added:
“We were delighted to welcome Evelyn Tweed MSP to visit our local teams in Callander to discuss the unprecedented challenges we faced during Storm Arwen. Whilst we are proud of the way our teams dealt with this challenge, which caused extensive damage to our network, we recognise there are a number of areas for improvement. We’re committed to working closely with our partners, elected members and local communities to collectively enhance how we prepare, respond and recover from emergency events ahead of the coming winter.”
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MORE INFORMATION FROM SSEN
Recognising the significant impact of the storm on customers and communities in the north east of Scotland, SSEN established £3.5m of additional funding support for network and community resilience, over and above the £4.8m of enhanced compensation provided to customers. This includes:
- £1.8m of ring-fenced funding for local authorities in the most affected regions to support community and personal resilience projects, focused on the vulnerable, adding to the £0.5m boost to SSEN’s Resilient Communities Fund which we’ll award to successful groups later this summer.
- £1.2m allocated for additional network resilience investment, focused on enhanced protection of key circuits and contingency measures to help improve response time in future major storm events.
This investment is over and above the £100m allocated to network upgrades and maintenance in the north of Scotland this financial year.
