Campaigns

Leading the fight on Pylons

Posted on by John
16
Jun

South Norfolk Conservatives are leading the fight to ensure that the impact of strengthening the power grid does not have an adverse impact on our natural and built environment and the wide views of our natural countryside and landscape.

The Conservative Leader of the Council has written to National Grid, met with other Council Leaders and is working with nine local MPs to ensure that the ‘GREEN’ proposals, to erect an additional pylons through East Anglia are revisited.

We have been able to draw attention to the lack of meaningful consultation, not the detailed consideration of all the issues that should have been taken into account at the earliest stage. There seems to be scant attention given to landscape, heritage or natural assets.   There has been no obvious consideration of alternative options.  The economic impacts on Bressingham and Tibenham Airfield are completely absent.  And nobody has given a thought for Diss which would be surrounded on all sides.

We have all identified the key issues that need to be addressed at that point, one of which will be consideration of offshore.  It’s clearly our preferred option.  
 
We are working with other Councils across Norfolk to ensure that the full information relating to finance, technical feasibility and environmental impacts of all the options including all onshore & offshore variants including complete or partial burying.
 

1. the current consultation sees an overhead line cutting through South Norfolk. South Norfolk has the largest number of listed buildings in Norfolk and, by dint of its landscape and topography, the visual intrusion of an additional set of lines is greater than it might be elsewhere.

In addition, the suggested corridor passes through County Wildlife sites and sensitive and protected river valleys and little consideration appears to have been given to mitigate or to bury lines as they pass through these areas.

Notwithstanding that our specialist planning team recommended and provided a list of suggested consultees, the only consultation event in the district was held at short notice, during the working day in a village hall with very limited access to public transport and far-distant from Diss. The consultation can only be characterised as cursory.

2. We recognise that the significant electricity generation from offshore must be transmitted to the places of greatest demand. Inevitably this requires the development of additional grid capacity. We stand ready to ensure that the power-imperative is tempered against public expectations and environmental constraints in a way your draft proposals appear to to have done

John