Residents in the Ward who may be affected, and all those who value the lovely open countryside that we enjoy close by, should be reasonably content with Babergh’s response to the consultation by National Grid that was agreed by the Strategy Committee on Thursday.
You can read the text below.
I am a little concerned that, under pressure from the Liberal Democrats whose County Council Leader was sitting in the public gallery to urge her troops on, the Committee majored on the idea of supporting none of the routes. The result was that they failed to support their route preferences with anything in the way of reasoned argument.
No land based pylons at all would of course be best, but is it realistic to expect this? And was this what we were asked? We were not being consulted on the principle of building the pylons but merely on where they should be built. I accept that it is frustrating to have little power in this instance due to the fact that it is reserved to the new Government super-planning infrastructure quango, but I hope that Babergh’s submission is taken seriously and not just seen as an exercise in grandstanding.
The text of the response starts below:
Strategy Committee 11 February 2010 – Agenda Item 7
Bramford to Twinstead Overhead Line Project
That the comments as set out below be approved as Babergh District Council’s formal response to the National Grid on the Bramford to Twinstead Overhead Line Project: Route Corridor Consultation Study (Stage 1):-
(a) National Grid has not yet demonstrated conclusively that the current proposals are the most appropriate means of achieving the required network improvements and the District Council therefore urges that the options for offshore and underground routing should be fully explored before any consideration is given to over ground routing in any form.
(b) In the absence of such a conclusive study the District Council cannot support any of the proposals.
(c) Whilst not to be construed as support at this stage for any of the options under consideration, the District Council makes the following comments on the options:
• Strongly objects to the use of Corridors 1, 3 and 4 in any form
• Were Corridor 2 to be selected by National Grid it is insisted that steps be taken to lessen the impact of any powerline by undergrounding the cables.*
(d) The District Council strongly encourages National Grid to pay full regard to the views of local people and their elected representatives before embarking upon Stage Two of their consultation process.
(e) The District Council strongly encourages National Grid to set up a community forum to support Stage Two of the consultation process.
