Controversial plans to install an 87-mile long network of pylons between Grimsby and Norfolk are set to be debated at the House of Commons today, Thursday 2 May.
Under the plans, power would be transported from offshore wind farms in Grimsby to Walpole via a network of new substations and pylons being erected over 87 miles. It would the largest overhaul of the grid for generations.
The plans have been met with anger and frustration by residents across Lincolnshire, but especially in Grimsby, with many voicing concerns about the potential loss of countryside, agriculture and natural habitats after it emerged that the route would cut through areas of farming land and green spaces in Lincolnshire. Instead, campaigners have called for the cables to be buried underground or offshore.
Martin Vickers, MP for Cleethorpes, already voiced his concerns in Parliament back in March, when he asked if the Prime Minister could “assure” his residents that “when the ministers consider the consultations that come forward from National Grid, they will give sympathetic consideration to putting some of the sections underground.”
The Prime Minister came back and said that Vickers was “absolutely right” to raise the concerns of his constituency and that, as Prime Minister, he would “make sure that ministers take into account the concerns raised.”
Another debate will take place today at 12.30pm in the House of Commons’ Westminster Hall.
