The "biggest and ugliest" pylons are to be moved underground.
National Grid have shortlisted areas including Snowdonia, Peak District, New Forest and Brecon Beacons national parks, and the Dorset, Tamar Valley, High Weald and North Wessex Downs Areas of Natural Beauty (AONB), totalling 25km of lines.
“Having decided these are the biggest and ugliest ones, we now have to look at the feasibility,” said Chris Baines, an environmental consultant and chair of National Grid’s stakeholder advisory group. “Undergrounding is best when you can do it, but we also have to make sure the treatment isn’t worse than the disease. It can leave quite a scar that is hard to heal.”
The project means a 50-metre-wide trench will be dug, to about two metres deep, to accommodate the six lines carried by pylons.
The scheme will be funded by bill payers, and will add £500m to electricity bills over eight years, or about £7m a pylon, which National Grid estimate to be equivalent to 22p a year on an average customer bill.
Cedrec's take
Whilst the conservation of natural beauty is a lovely idea, it is a little bit of an annoyance that, rather than use profits from previous years to pay for this scheme, it is an additional 22p per year to the average customer bill for the next eight years. This is not taking into consideration that inflation will inevitably make prices rise and the possibility of the project running over budget and deadline.
Hopefully the scheme is worth the rather staggering price attached.
