Lincolnshire County Council submit formal objections to National Grid’s proposed pylon plans.
Two major proposals from National Grid that would see Lincolnshire’s landscape permanently changed have been opposed by Lincolnshire County Council.
The proposed Grimsby to Walpole route would see hundreds of pylons and overhead cables running 87 miles across the east of Lincolnshire, between the Lincolnshire Wolds national landscape and the natural coast and then on to Walpole, just over the border in Norfolk. The plans also include up to six new substations along the route.
The second pylon route would run 37 miles from Weston Marsh, just outside Spalding, to just north of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. Around 80 per cent of the proposed route falls within Lincolnshire and includes two new substations.
In formal objections, the county council has set out that it will not support any project for overhead lines and pylons which impact on the county and its vitally important landscapes. If the need for grid infrastructure is found to be justified this should be achieved using underground cabling.
Cllr Sean Matthews, council leader, said: “The Council has, in no uncertain terms, formally opposed these proposals that will devastate our county’s landscapes and local communities if they go ahead.
“There are so many holes in National Grid’s proposals it’d be laughable if they didn’t threaten to cause so much damage.
“They don’t consider the impact of the dozens of NSIPs or other energy infrastructure projects being forced on the county, the impact on communities like Alford, Weston and Corby Glen that would be overwhelmed by substations and pylons, the impact of the continual loss of high-quality farmland on national food security, and they still haven’t provided the costings or analysis to show any of their working out!
“I’ve been very vocal speaking out against these plans and know from talking to residents on doorsteps and at National Grid’s public information events that these plans are not welcome. So, as a council we will continue to speak up for our residents, and make sure that National Grid get the message that Lincolnshire’s not a dumping ground.”
Cllr Danny Brookes, executive councillor for environment, said: “Despite what National Grid have been saying, there are other options available that don’t involve trashing our county with pylons.
“An independent report that the council commissioned found two realistic alternatives that National Grid haven’t even considered.
“Different pathways and underground cabling would cause much less of an impact than hundreds of 50m-high pylons cutting through the county, and it would remove the need in some areas for any new infrastructure at all.
“The lack of any kind of cost analysis and consideration for alternatives, makes me really question whether National Grid are even bothering to try and minimise the impacts to Lincolnshire with their proposals.”
Read our formal responses to the National Grid.
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