Relationship between Community Perceptions of Social Impacts and their Award of Social License to Operate (SLO): Insights from a Scottish Case Study on 'Monster Pylons'

TY - CHAP

T1 - Relationship between Community Perceptions of Social Impacts and their Award of Social License to Operate (SLO)

T2 - Insights from a Scottish Case Study on 'Monster Pylons'

AU - Maxwell, Ana

AU - Onyango, Vincent

AU - Macari, Kirsty

AU - Forghaniallahabadi, Maryam

AU - Tommarchi, Enrico

N1 - © 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

PY - 2026/2/24

Y1 - 2026/2/24

N2 - The shift towards renewable electricity in the UK has provoked significant localised opposition from the communities obliged to host the transmission infrastructure. This chapter explores the Social License to Operate (SLO) associated with nationally significant infrastructure projects, based on the proposed Kintore to Tealing 400kV overhead line in northeast Scotland, locally dubbed 'monster pylons.' While framed as a nationally significant development essential for grid decarbonisation, the project has faced widespread opposition from local communities who feel alienated by its planning process, excluded from meaningful consultation, and disproportionately burdened by its impacts. Drawing on 389 survey responses and four in-depth interviews, this chapter develops an empirically grounded model to assess thresholds of perceived social impact and their correlation with SLO decisions. Results show that SLO declines significantly once negative perceptions of impacts, especially visual disruption, land degradation, and procedural injustice, exceed certain thresholds. Echoing emotional geography, the findings remind us of how place attachments also shape the SLO. Mitigation approaches, such as benefit funds below a certain threshold, are insufficient if they do not address deeper emotional and procedural grievances. The chapter concludes by proposing a list of relevant thresholds of perceived impact tipping points for SLO and a checklist for assessing and securing SLO in net-zero energy transition infrastructure projects.

AB - The shift towards renewable electricity in the UK has provoked significant localised opposition from the communities obliged to host the transmission infrastructure. This chapter explores the Social License to Operate (SLO) associated with nationally significant infrastructure projects, based on the proposed Kintore to Tealing 400kV overhead line in northeast Scotland, locally dubbed 'monster pylons.' While framed as a nationally significant development essential for grid decarbonisation, the project has faced widespread opposition from local communities who feel alienated by its planning process, excluded from meaningful consultation, and disproportionately burdened by its impacts. Drawing on 389 survey responses and four in-depth interviews, this chapter develops an empirically grounded model to assess thresholds of perceived social impact and their correlation with SLO decisions. Results show that SLO declines significantly once negative perceptions of impacts, especially visual disruption, land degradation, and procedural injustice, exceed certain thresholds. Echoing emotional geography, the findings remind us of how place attachments also shape the SLO. Mitigation approaches, such as benefit funds below a certain threshold, are insufficient if they do not address deeper emotional and procedural grievances. The chapter concludes by proposing a list of relevant thresholds of perceived impact tipping points for SLO and a checklist for assessing and securing SLO in net-zero energy transition infrastructure projects.

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-74725-1_46-1

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-74725-1_46-1

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

SN - 9783030747251

SP - 1

EP - 37

BT - Palgrave Studies in Energy Transitions

A2 - Górski, Jędrzej

A2 - Mete, Gokce

PB - Palgrave

ER -