This week I raised concerns in Parliament about the installation of massive pylons for the Grimsby to Walpole National Grid scheme which will run across parts of Fenland.
The proposed pylons are around twice the size of existing ones, and would reach a height of approximately 50 meters. These will be particularly visible across the flat Fenland landscape. Moreover, prime agricultural land will once again be diverted away from food production, exacerbating the challenges faced by our farming community.
We need to explore alternative long term solutions, including which parts of the route are most ill suited to these giant pylons so alternatives, such as burying cables can be explored. This would more fairly distribute the cost of these national energy schemes across the country, rather than having disproportionate impact on rural areas.
Yet in chasing an unrealistic net zero target for 95% clean energy by 2030, the government is not allowing adequate time for mitigations to be put in place as they want to rail road these schemes through, including ignoring local democratic voices. Once again we are seeing a Labour government priorities cities over rural communities, and letting short term targets distort long term policy. Residents in Fenland will be left with huge eyesores blighting our local landscape as a result.
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To find out more about the scheme and the route proposed, go to http://www.nationalgrid.com/.../infras.../grimsby-to-walpole
