A SENIOR politician has been urged to help save East Anglia’s green spaces amid a looming pylons plan.
Campaigners have claimed the region has been “thrown under a bus” as National Grid plans to build 110 miles of power lines and towering pylons through it.
To remedy the impact this could have on the environment, calls have been made for an offshore grid to be constructed instead.
Under the current blueprints, the pylon network will carry power generated by offshore wind across three counties, between Norwich and Tilbury.
It will run through East Bergholt until it crosses the border into the Colchester district, running underground past Dedham, Langham and crossing the A12.
A new report published by National Grid Electricity System Operator says the plans play “a key part” in enabling the role offshore wind has in meeting the Government's target for net zero.
Rosie Pearson, who has vociferously opposed the plans, has now urged the new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Jacob Rees-Mogg, to throw his weight behind their fight.
“In the big strategic question of how to transmit electricity, East Anglia has been, to put it bluntly, thrown under a bus,” said Mrs Pearson.
“The current, piecemeal, approach means that each wind farm makes landfall separately.
“The result is energy infrastructure and the digging up of our countryside all around the coast and has led to the proposal for 180km of power lines and towering, 50-metre pylons.
“This infrastructure will wreak havoc on the environment, farms and countryside of the beautiful, rural counties of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. “We therefore ask you to support our solution – one that is good not just for our region but for consumers everywhere.”
A National Grid spokesman said the firm believes the current proposals “best align” with the policies and regulatory frameworks it works within, adding an eight week public consultation has already been held.
He said: “We look at a number of options when considering any new electricity reinforcements, including the consideration of offshore solutions.
“There will be another opportunity to comment on the proposals before National Grid submits a planning application to the Planning Inspectorate in late 2024.”
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