Deep concern about more pylons going up 

The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) in alliance with three other leading countryside campaign groups launched a campaign for major investment in smart electricity networks to avoid intrusive new infrastructure. The campaign aims to influence the Government’s promised vision for a ‘smart grid’ and a new national planning policy on the future of the nation’s electricity transmission network.

There are already 22,000 high voltage pylons carrying 4,375 miles of overhead transmission lines in England and Wales. The alliance is deeply concerned that plans outlined in a major recent Government-backed report indicate that there could be many more pylons. These would aim to serve a new generation of power stations, and extend across some of our most valued countryside.

Research indicates:

• at least twelve new lines of overhead pylons, altogether stretching over at least 170 miles of countryside, are being considered across England and Wales, and three existing lines could see larger pylons;
  
  
• new lines could march across the Snowdonia National Park and four designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Anglesey, Kent, Lincolnshire and Somerset; and
  
  
• Green Belt land – the countryside closest to our major towns and cities – could be affected by new or larger lines of pylons in Derbyshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, London, Somerset and South Yorkshire [5].

The alliance members believe that as well as making much better use of the electricity we generate, a new smart grid for England and Wales, to parallel President Obama’s plans in the USA, should have much less impact on our valued countryside.

The alliance’s manifesto A Countryside Friendly Smart Grid is calling for:

• any new high voltage transmission lines to avoid AONBs, National Parks, World Heritage Sites and Green Belt land;
  
  
• the use of innovative new pylon designs, up to 33% shorter than for a typical high voltage pylon in the UK, in locations where high voltage transmission lines already affect our most important countryside or where new lines are unavoidable;
  
  
• measures to reduce demand on the main electricity transmission grid, such as ‘smart meters’, encouragement for community and small-scale local energy generation, and further research on methods of storage of electricity; and
  
  
• new offshore wind farms to be connected to the National Grid using underground cables to existing substations. The impact of substations on the countryside, including associated clutter and light pollution, should also be reduced as they are renewed or redeveloped.

Paul Miner, CPRE’s Senior Planning Campaigner, says: “We support the idea of a truly ‘smart grid’ – meaning both energy efficient and countryside friendly. We urge National Grid to drop proposals for new overhead lines in our most valued areas of countryside. We also want to see Government and industry doing more to reduce the impact of existing high voltage lines and other transmission infrastructure on the landscape.’

More information: www.cpre.org.uk