National Grid is proposing to install a line of 46.5m high pylons from Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station to Seabank in Avonmouth using the following proposed
routes without undertaking a full, correct and open consultation. Click here to see the full submission from National Grid (NG).
We oppose both of these proposed pylon routes through the Somerset Levels because National Grid, in our opinion, have failed to consult adequately with us as the general public as required under the Planning Act 2008.
July 2010:
NG have completed their 2nd round of 'drop-in' sessions. Please ensure that you forward your objections to NG before the 23rd July.
It is also important that you copy in your MP with your response as well as this reaffirms the mandate that we have given to our respective MP's
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Tessa Munt MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA - or tessa.munt.mp@parliament.uk
John Penrose MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA - ordaviesbe@parliament.uk
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Click here for April's Newsletter
Artists impression of the pylons through Mark!
Map showing the effect on Mark and environs
The planning process as outlined in the Planning Act 2008 requires that NG carry out a pre-application consultation with communities affected by any proposal, before submitting a formal application under the Planning Act to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).
It is the view of Pylon Moor Pressure that this consultation process has been deeply flawed from inception, and that National Grid are not listening to the views of the many residents who believe strongly that viable alternatives such as undersea routing of the proposed Hinkley Point Connection must be considered (Wraxall Failand PC have proved to NG that a viable alternative possible. Click Here to read)
..Consequences of Pylons Being Installed:
The planned above ground-cables have a number of serious consequences for residents. Numerous studies have linked increased rates of Leukemia in children living up to 600m away from high voltage (HV) lines. More recent studies are showing increased rates of Alzheimer sufferers living beside HV pylon routes. Residents living near to HV pylons are also reported to having an increased risk of depression, with one town in the North of England beside a housing estate having a miscarriage rate of 17 times higher than the nations average
There is a ill wind that blows off pylons. Professor Henshaw from Bristol University is currently undertaking research into a phenomenon called 'corona discharge,' where the air molecules that have been 'ripped apart' by the current flowing through the cable, discharge themselves and are then able to attach themselves to airborne pollutants which residents are then (unknowingly) able to breathe in up to 600m away.
..ElectroMagnetic Fields (EMF):
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All HV alternating current (AC) cables produce an Electromagnetic Field (EMF), This is the aspect that is linked to our health.
It is the EMF that is linked to all of the health reports and studies which are of concern to us as residents and as a group. The physical pylon is not an issue (aside from the amenity value) to health. The EMF that radiates (nb, this is not the same as radiation) from the HV cables is able to power fluorescent tubes, cause static electric charges, and has been linked to depression, miscarriages, increased childhood leukemia rates, increased Alzheimer rates, increased cancer concentrations etc.
NG is very quite quick to disprove these health claims and studies by experts - but to date there is a complete lack of science proving that the EMF given off by HVAC cables is completely safe.....
..Alternatives:
The United States along with many European Countries have taken notice of the mounting health studies and evidence; now as a matter of course they either undersea or underground their cables alongside motorways or in areas where they don’t impact on wildlife or residents quality of life.
In other cases such as the NorNed, the Neptune Project, Isles of Scilly, Irish Sea etc etc, the cables have been laid under the sea.
NG have argued to us on the Hinkley Connection project that the technology to lay cables under the sea does not exist? Yet NG are able to state a price of 1.9bn to the press to undertake a scheme from Hinkley to Seabank? So, either NG have the technology, or are unwilling to implement the scheme because of uncertain costs.
We understand that NG have a long list of international contractors willing to price to undertake the scheme, but appear to have not been allowed to price for the works to date.
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Above left is a pictures of a standard underground DC cables, along with two pictures of newer superconductors (middle and right).
Above ground HV cables (i.e Pylons) lose approximately 25% of the energy transmitted due to 'line loss'. Whereas the DC cables (especially the superconductors) lose approximately 2-3%.
The difference in power loss over only a few short few years would be able to fund the expensive ACDC converter stations required at each end of the sea route. More information can be found HERE.
To put this in perspective. at an approximate saving in energy at some 22% we could negate the need for at least one of the proposed Nuclear Power stations.
Under the Electricity Act 1989, NG do not need to have ANY regard to the carbon footprints of their proposed schemes. Nor do not need to implement and encourage the use more efficient and modern technology, the Act is flawed and requires amending.
..Latest National Pylon News:
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20th June 2010.
"National Grid says rising electricity demand necessitates the expansion — there has to be a better way". Full Story here at the Sunday Times here
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21st June 2010
"Britain’s most beautiful landscapes are under threat from a new wave of high-voltage pylons to be announced by the National Grid, conservationists warned yesterday." Full story at the Telegraph here
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22nd May 2010.
More pylons are the Orwellian downside to the low-carbon future. And this is just the beginning. Full Story here at the Sunday Times here
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March 2010 |
"One thing Britain does not need is more pylons. There are already legions of the metallic monsters stomping across our fields and hills — 22,000 of them in total — and 550 of these have colonised some of the loveliest countryside in Britain: across the Peak District; through the New Forest and the South Downs; along the North Wales coast.
We should be dismantling these lines, as suggested by the excellent Campaign to Protect Rural England. We should be pulling down the pylons and running the cables underground or under the sea. But instead National Grid, supported by the government, is making plans to put up even more: another 12 new buzzing, high-voltage lines supported by hundreds more pylons looming over another 170 miles of England and Wales. Our landscape is our heritage. This government may not appreciate it, but future generations will. We owe it to them to preserve what beauty remains." |
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Click here to read Griff's thoughts on Giant Pylons in Suffolk. The Times 05/02/10
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Click here to watch Griff being interviewed by the BBC. 25/02/10
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Bill Bryson said it was "crazy" to be building more pylons, rather than investing in green energy. CPRE 25/03/09
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..Latest Local Plyon News:
Dr Liam Fox MP holding a debate in the House of Commons:
Tessa Munt MP, campaigning against the pylon plans:
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Tessa Munt MP, has been campaigning against National Grid's inadequate consultation with local residents on its hugely unpopular proposals to erect huge pylons right across the Somerset countryside |
David Heathcoat-Amory campaigning against the pylon plans:
..Latest Local Plyon News:
Shadow Secretary of State Visits Proposed Pylon Site. 28th April 2010:
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Shadow Secretary of State Greg Clark today visited the location of the proposed giant pylons which National Grid want to build to connect Bridgwater and Avonmouth.
He was accompanied by David Heathcoat-Amory who has been campaigning nationally in parliament along with Paul Hipwell, Chair of No-Moor-Pylons.
David Heathcoat-Amory said “I am pleased that the man who will make the decision can see the environmental case for himself and the argument for a submarine cable option, or at least putting the cables underground.” Click here for full story |
Mendip Times April 2010:
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"Plans to run a line of pylons through the Mendips have sparked widespread protests. Here, Tarnock resident Alison Nicole Bullett explains the concerns. View full article in the Mendip Times."
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SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL condemn NG's Public Consultation as inadequate. March 2010:
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“Somerset County Council is the latest, and biggest, authority to condemn the consultation process for the line which would see 160ft high pylons carrying power 37 miles from a new Hinkley Point power station to a sub station at Avonmouth, near Bristol.
A full meeting of the county council this week condemned the first round of consultation as being “fundamentally flawed”.
“The council is calling on the Secretary of State for Climate Change, the Infrastructure Planning Committee, and National Grid to ensure that a new and “fully informed” consultation takes place before any decision on the route is made, and before detailed proposals are submitted to the IPC. |
A motion proposed by county council Liberal Democrat group leader Jill Shortland, and seconded by environment portfolio holder Anthony Trollope-Bellew, said the proposals were also premature because consultations on national energy infrastructure policy is not yet complete.”
Full story reported by thisissomerset.co.uk here.
SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL full meeting. 17 February 2010:
Pylon-Moor-Pressure, along with other Pylon groups, petitioned Somerset County Council (SCC) on the 17/02/2010, and gained confirmation from SCC that they believe, as Statutory Consultees, that the Public Consultation from National Grid under the new Planning Act 2008 has not been adequate.
Further confirmation that National Grid are not spending our collective money (and that of their shareholders) correctly.
Cllr David Huxtable went even further and said: “...I think we are all agreed that the [public] consultation is a bit of a sham...".
Cheddar Valley Gazette. February 2010:
"if we are happy to bury wires in the plaster of our houses, why not bury electricity cables..." Paul Hipwell Chair of No-Moor-Pylons.co.uk
Cheddar Valley Gazetter. February 2010:
Local Blackford Theatre group 'poke fun' at National Grid's intention to install pylons across the Somerset Levels.
No-Pylons-Loxton March January 2010:
No-Pylons-Loxton organised a March from Christon to Loxton on Saturday 30th January 2010. Over 260 people attended with representations from David Heathcoat-Amory, John Penrose MP, BBC, HTV along with the Bristol Evening Post. A helicopter flew at 46.5m above the ground along the proposed route in the Loxton gap to show the true height of the proposed pylons in relation to Crook Peak and the existing 132kv line.
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.Scale Drawing of Giant Pylon and Standard House:
Scale drawing of a typical 4bed house in Mark against the proposed pylons, click to enlarge.
Act
Now!
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