'Pylons plan a disaster for the countryside'

A controversial pylons project will unleash "unnecessary destruction" across East Anglia, according to residents, as the consultation period into the plans comes to a close.

National Grid wants to install 114 miles (180km) of pylons between Norwich and Tilbury, Essex, which will carry electricity produced by offshore windfarms.

The scheme could also see underground cables placed beneath the River Stour and Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on the Essex-Suffolk border and also underground in the Waveney Valley on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, external.

National Grid says the project will benefit the environment and provide homes with cleaner electricity, but campaigners fear it will "destroy" the countryside.

On Wednesday in the House of Commons, the new Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said is was "extraordinary" that Waveney Valley's Green MP Adrian Ramsey opposed the power lines.

Residents have raised concerns about the impact of the line of pylons ahead of the closure of the public consultation on Friday.

Bill Doran, 72, purchased his home between Roxwell and Writtle 27 years ago after falling for its "beautiful and totally unspoilt" views of the Essex countryside.

But he says the landscape behind his garden could soon be blighted by a 55m-high pylon just 100m away, which could see his property’s value drop by £230,000.

"Why should we be blighted?" he said.

"It is grossly, grossly, unfair but National Grid appears to be a bulldozer which is just ploughing this through.

"Pylons are ugly and this is an absolute disaster for the British countryside. They’re playing Russian roulette with our lives and destroying our homes.

"The people of this country are being thrown under the bus. It’s a total nonsense."

John Ball, who works for a company which develops offshore windfarms and lives in Norfolk, believes the arrival of the power lines will put his small family business at risk.

"We settled on Norfolk because it is unspoilt and we set up a couple of holiday cottages as part of our retirement plan," he said.

"But on the day the first digger comes in and the first lorry starts carving up and destroying the narrow lanes, it will be bad news - and the end of our business.

"It will be highly destructive and there really is no need for it – it’s unnecessary destruction of the countryside and I think the whole thing is a sham."

Cindy Wooldridge, 52, of Offton, near Ipswich, says she recognises the need to establish ways of delivering clean electricity, but says the pylons scheme is not the answer.

"I am against the way it is being run because they are using a 20th Century method to solve a 21st Century problem," she said.

"There has been no alternative option to consider as part of this proposal and that gives us no real ability to influence the outcome – so there is definitely a bias.

“The consultation, external has very much been about justifying the project rather than objectively evaluating its impact, and that completely undermines the integrity of the process."

Rosie Pearson is a campaigner with the Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons group.

She said: "National Grid has indicated it will be pushing on with the project but that will now be with this huge weight of opinion against it.

"We are submitting an enormous sweep of documents from professionals and they show an extraordinary list of flaws in the project and how it has been proposed.

"It will bring unimaginable damage to the countryside, farmers and tourist businesses, so the impact is absolutely huge."

Simon Pepper, senior project manager at National Grid, said it was "so important to get as much feedback as possible".

"We understand how controversial these schemes can be but we want to get this right because it is such an important scheme," he said.

"I’m confident we’ve done a really good job of trying to design a scheme which is the best fit.

“Offshore or entirely underground options are much more expensive and we have to strike the right balance to keep energy bill payers’ bills down.”

Residents can still contribute to the public consultation, external until 23.59 BST.

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