High voltage electricity pylons could be built across the countryside surrounding Shrewsbury by 2015 under multi-million proposals put forward by a government agency.
Under the plans power will be transported from wind farms in Mid Wales to the Midlands, with pylons running across countryside surrounding Shrewsbury and linking up with the transmission network in Ironbridge and/or Bishops Wood, near Telford.
The £225 million scheme has been devised by the Energy Networks Strategy Group as part of its vision for the future. It is not yet known exactly where the pylons will run or which rural communities will be affected.
But an environmental group and a councillor have called for underground lines to be used instead to ensure the countryside is not blighted.
According to a ENSG report, the cables will help carry 800MW of power generated by onshore wind farms in Wales to a centralised hub.
It states: “New transmission assets including overhead line and cable sections need to be commissioned in order to connect the new generation to the transmission hub. As the generation is made up of a number of small to medium wind farms, the current proposals is to create a hub substation to which all wind farms input.”
Shropshire councillor Jon Tandy told the Chronicle he was concerned by the proposals, but understood the need to improve electricity infrastructure.
“I would never live under an electricity pylon and think they would ruin Shrewsbury’s countryside,” he said. If I was consulted I would prefer underground lines. I do realise the need to improve infrastructure and understand why using overground line would be a cheaper option.”
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has called for the government to back the idea of a ‘smart grid’ that makes best use of available energy resources, avoiding harm to the countryside.
In their environmental manifesto CPRE states: “We are pleased that the Energy Networks Strategy Group has recognised the need for a smart grid, in its call for £4.7 billion of new investment in transmission networks until 2020.
“Worrying evidence has come to light, however, that the national policy could in fact propose more inefficient centralised generation, high voltage pylons and overhead transmission lines – taking us in the opposite direction from a truly smart grid that should be energy efficient and countryside friendly.”
It added that overhead transmission lines causes ‘visual intrusion’ and welcomed the idea of undergrounding transmission lines where possible.
By Charlotte Hester