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LAND-USE AND LANDSCAPE : HYDROELECTRICITY AND LANDSCAPE PROTECTION IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, 1919-1980 Jill Rowan Payne A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2008 Full metadata for this item is available in the St Andrews Digital Research Repository at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/562 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License LAND-USE AND LANDSCAPE: HYDROELECTRICITY AND LANDSCAPE PROTECTION IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, 1919 - 1980 Jill Rowan Payne Doctor of Philosophy University of St Andrews 3 April 2007 ABSTRACT This thesis employs twentieth-century hydroelectric development ventures in the Highlands of Scotland as a means of exploring conflicting demands of socio- economic development and landscape protection in cherished places. In Scotland, twentieth-century landscape protection ideals were founded upon a landscape aesthetic shaped by the principles and objectives of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Romanticism. The concept that the ‘natural’ world somehow existed separately from the world of humans, as a potential refuge from a rapidly industrialising European society, meant that the Romantic landscape aesthetic left little or no room for the incorporation of visible elements of industrialisation. This aesthetic has seen only limited change over time. As a result, satisfactory compromises between land-use and landscape protection have seldom been reached: a situation thrown into sharp relief by efforts to develop Highland water systems for the generation of hydroelectric energy during the period 1919 to 1980. The debate over hydroelectric development in the Highlands is instructive for a number of reasons, not least its parallels with the current focus on the placement of wind turbines in significant landscapes. Thanks to the Romantic legacy, attempts to modify landscapes as valued as those of the Highlands are fraught with complexity, even when development is undertaken in the interests of socio- economic enhancement. The thesis outlines the progression of both sides of the argument, assesses the significance of the compromises attempted and evaluates the lessons learned from nearly six decades of policymaking initiatives in this sphere. Core aesthetic ideals broadened, but did not change. Landscape ii protection progressed on the basis of protectionists’ ability to adjust the focus of their opposition; increased articulation of the idea of the collective ownership of important landscapes superseded the need to confront the viability of entrenched aesthetic orthodoxies. iii DECLARATIONS I, Jill Payne, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 72 747 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. Date: 3 April 2007 Signature of Candidate: I was admitted as a research student in October 1999 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in October 1999; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 1999 and 2007. Date: 3 April 2007 Signature of Candidate: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date: 3 April 2007 Signature of Supervisor: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use, and that the library has the iv right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration. Date: 3 April 2007 Signature of Candidate: v CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations and Acronyms ix List of Maps and Illustrations x I Introduction 1 II ‘Power from the Glens’? 27 Economy, industry and hydroelectricity before 1940 III Safeguarding Landscape I 49 Landscape aesthetics and landscape protection before 1940 IV Safeguarding Landscape II 94 Landscape protection and hydroelectricity before 1940 V Negotiating Power and Landscape 131 Reconstruction and the search for compromise VI Power in the Landscape I 146 The Sloy, Tummel-Garry and Affric Schemes VII Power in the Landscape II 182 The Strathfarrar and Nevis Schemes VIII Power in the Landscape III 202 The Craigroyston Scheme IX Conclusion: Making the Picture Work 230 Appendix 247 Bibliography 248 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been most privileged to have as my supervisors Dr John Clark and Professor Christopher Smout, whose knowledge, guidance, scholastic rigour and otherworldly patience have been invaluable. I am particularly grateful to the following for being so generous with their time, advice and information: Dr Jean Balfour, Professor Roger Crofts, Dr Alastair Durie, Dr John Foster, Joan Geddes, Maureen Gilmour, Malcolm Grant, Dr Horace Herring, Dr Steve Hoffman, David Henderson-Howat, Dr Ian Hunter, Dr Thomas Huxley, Dr Robert Lambert, Dr Ole Linquist, John Mackay, Dr John McGregor, Dr Tom Normand, Professor Peter Payne, Ian Pitrie, Professor Colin Reid, Nicholas Shepherd, Marion Shoard, Michael Smith WS, Professor David Stevenson, Muriel Swaddel and Naomi Tummons. I have also benefited enormously from discussions with staff and students at the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews. I was fortunate to be provided with access to the private archives of the National Trust for Scotland, ruralScotland (previously the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland), Scottish and Southern Energy plc (incorporating the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board) and to closed files pertaining to the Scottish Landowners’ Federation. I owe a great deal to the archivists and administrators involved, as well as to Margaret Richards. vii I received substantial funding from the University of St Andrews Centre for Environmental History and Policy between 1999 and 2002, during the time in which it was supported by a SHEFC grant. Both the University of St Andrews School of History Postgraduate Travel Allowance and the School’s Discretionary Allowance augmented this. The School’s Research and Teaching Committee also released funding which allowed me to present a paper at the 2003 International Conference of the European Society for Environmental History in Prague. The Rutgers State University of New Jersey Centre for Historical Analysis generously financed a visit to their New Brunswick campus in 2002. I am greatly indebted to Tom Dawson for his much-needed advice on formatting and expert work on the illustrations. John MacDonald was a true friend in need when it came to editing and proofreading. I would also like to thank my infinitely understanding and supportive family and friends, Adrian (most especially), my parents, my parents-in-law, Abdullah, Esther, Heather, Jenny, Jerome, Kate, Martin and Suchitra. viii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AGM Annual General Meeting APRS Association for the Preservation [later ‘Protection] of Rural Scotland BAC British Aluminium Company BOAS Board of Agriculture for Scotland CC Countryside Commission CCS Countryside Commission for Scotland CEB Central Electricity Board CPRE Council for the Protection of Rural England CPRW Council for the Protection of Rural Wales DA Department of Agriculture FC Forestry Commission FoE Friends of the Earth MP Member of Parliament MSP Member of Scottish Parliament NC Nature Conservancy NRA National Register of Archives NSHEB North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board NT National Trust NTS National Trust for Scotland RCAHMS Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland SLF Scottish Landowners’ Federation SNH Scottish Natural Heritage SRoWS Scottish Rights of Way Society SSE Scottish and Southern Energy ix LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 xi WH Murray, The Scottish Highlands (Edinburgh, 1976), frontispiece. Figure 2 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 3 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 4 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 5 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 6 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 7 Following ‘Scotland’s Heritage of Beauty as Affected by Water Power 123 Schemes’ (APRS, 1936). Figure 8 Following WH Murray, Highland Landscape: A Survey (Aberdeen, 1962), 196 frontispiece. Figure 9 Following Promotional literature, ‘Craigroyston’ (NSHEB, no date). 204 x xi I INTRODUCTION Twentieth- and twenty-first century historians have tended to document the rise of environmental awareness as an increasing

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