Construction of new McDonald’s could ‘cut power to hospital and half the city’

A power firm has warned that plans for a new McDonald’s restaurant in Aberdeen could damage two high voltage cables which power the city’s hospital.

The fast food chain is looking to build the new eatery on Ashgrove Road West, near the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI). But the plans have received 295 objections, with SSEN Transmission raising concerns about the potential for a city-wide power cut.

Senior town and country planner Jamie Leadbeater from SSEN told a public meeting organised by the city council’s planning committee that two high voltage cables running under the site are “absolutely integral” to Aberdeen’s inner city transmission network.

According to a report in the Press & Journal, Mr Leadbeater said: “These cables are of significant age, they are oilfield cables which are no longer in production. They are essentially much more fragile than most modern transmission cables.”

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He said the two cables serve the ARI along with half of the houses and other buildings in the city. “Ensuring that any development over these cables doesn’t affect their integrity and operation is absolutely paramount to us as a business to maintain a reliable supply of electricity to all bill payers,” Mr Leadbeater added.

“But fundamentally, it’s in the public interest for people’s homes, businesses and public buildings like this to ensure the cables are operational 24/7.”

He said that damage to a similar cable 18 months ago had forced SSEN to send off to Germany for a bespoke repair, which came at a “significant” cost. More importantly, the delay placed extra strain on the city’s power grid. Mr Leadbeater warned: “If the other cable had been snapped at some point whilst this remained out of use, there would have been major, serious supply issues to ARI, homes and businesses.”

He added that SSEN would be willing to remove its objection if McDonald’s could find a way to safeguard the cables, which run under a proposed new access road to the site at the former Rosehill Day Centre.

Councillor Graeme Lawrence noted SSEN had “painted a very black picture” of its Aberdeen cable network and asked if this could be a good chance to upgrade them. Mr Leadbeater explained that SSEN were looking to replace a number of cables across the city between 2026 to 2031, subject to Ofgem approval.

And councillor Marie Boulton asked if the existing rear access to the site would be suitable for SSEN instead. She said: “I just want to understand how we protect those cables because clearly a burger or a life support machine for me is not a difficult choice.” Mr Leadbeater replied: “In an ideal world, if the development could work without the formation of a new access that would be preferable for us.”

Scotland’s first net zero McDonald’s

Other objections were received from SNP MSP Kevin Stewart and the Aberdeen Civic Society. However, the Scottish Ambulance Service has withdrawn its objection after new traffic measures were put in place along with the removal of a drive-thru lane.

The council has also received 33 letters of support, with Abby McGrath speaking on behalf of McDonald’s at the meeting. She said the Aberdeen site would be Scotland’s first net zero restaurant and would “set the baseline for future low carbon design”.

She told the committee that the new restaurant would create more than 120 full and part-time new jobs, as well as generating £74,000 in business rates annually for Aberdeen City Council .

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