I am campaigning on behalf of his constituents, to oppose National Grid's 'Grimsby to Walpole' plans which would see pylons built across Lincolnshire. Within my constiteuncy, the impacted areas include Brigsley, Ashby-cum-Fenby, and Waltham.
I have met National Grid privately to hear their plans and I have also attended their consultation meetings with local residents. It is not ideal that their plans remain rather vague as to the exact route they are planning, and more concrete proposals would be beneficial to all involved.
While I accept that infrastructure that transmits electricity across the country is nationally significant and upgrades, in one form or another, desperately need to be built, my view is that there are far better alternatives such as running the cabling underground or offshore, to prevent greatly harming the visual environment.
It is argued that power lines buried underground are more expensive and that cost often falls onto the bill payer. However, cost should not always be the primary factor in decision making.
Similarly, I believe there are indirect costs of building pylons that have nothing to do with their construction but have been imposed as a tool to buy local support. An example of which is the announcement made by the Chancellor to provide community benefits schemes to areas living near new infrastructure. This will provide funding of £200,000 per kilometre of overhead lines in their area, £40,000 per kilometre of underground cables, and £200,000 per substation. There are also to be electricity discounts of up to £1,000 per year for 10 years for households closest to the new infrastructure.
I believe the proposals are short-sighted and incoherent in terms of the obvious necessity to rewire the grid to make it fit for the future and ensure we have the infrastructure in place to reach our Net Zero ambitions. By 2050, the country will require two to three times the amount of electricity as we require today. However, in respect of these plans, there is a clear failing of strategy in relation to how we ensure the necessary infrastructure will provide for us in the decades ahead.
We are fortunate to benefit from an ever-increasing amount of electricity generated from offshore wind farms and my constituency is fortunate to be on the Humber which is a leading force in this renewable energy sub-sector. This presents an opportunity for an offshore grid, transmitting much of our electricity away under the sea. Of course, at some point this electricity will have to come on land but this will significantly reduce the need for pylons and overhead cables. We can learn here from the examples of Belgium and Denmark both of which are building more offshore infrastructure.
I recently led a parliamentary debate on the matter which you can read here: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2024-05-23a.1117.0#g1117.1