City councils to work together to oppose tower projects

Lincolnshire County Council has said it will work with its counterparts in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to oppose National Grid’s plans to install hundreds of pylons along the east coast.

Officials met this week to discuss plans for the proposed overhead line network stretching from Grimsby to Tilbury in Essex.

The council said the project would “irreversibly change the character of our county” and was “unacceptable”.

As part of the project, dubbed ‘The Great Grid Upgrade’ by National Grid, 470 pylons could be installed in Lincolnshire.

The authority has previously criticised the proposed network, saying it would impact agriculture and holiday destinations.

Together, the councils hope to persuade National Grid to consider alternative options such as underground cables, although the company has previously ruled out this option on cost grounds.

Council leader Martin Hill said the pylons would “irreversibly change the character of our county and other options should be considered”.

He said the council was speaking with councillors from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, who he said “share our view that these plans are unacceptable”.

He added: “We believe National Grid has prematurely ruled out laying cables on the seabed to transport this energy to the south of England.

“It now appears that they refused to take into account the views of some parish assemblies in their consultation, thereby excluding from their contribution certain communities directly concerned.”

In a joint statement from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex county councils, a spokesperson said: “We have agreed to continue to work together to review how we do this, and we will now consider in more detail what this means.”

On its website, National Grid said: “The costs of alternative technologies to overhead lines can be significantly higher, with burying cables around five to ten times more expensive. The cost of offshore solutions – cables under the sea – is also significant.”

“We have looked at this issue for example in East Anglia, where the cost to consumers of providing an equivalent offshore cable solution would be around four times that of a land-based overhead line option.”

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