Legal action threat over countryside pylon plan

National Grid could face legal action over its proposals to put a new line of overhead electricity pylons through Lincolnshire.

It is planning to install pylons of up to 164ft (50m) high along an 87 mile (140km) stretch between Grimsby and Walpole in Norfolk.

But Lincolnshire County Council leader, Cllr Martin Hill, said he "didn't believe" it would be cheaper than putting them on the sea bed.

National Grid said offshore cables would be a "significant extra cost to consumers".

The proposals form part of The Great Grid Upgrade, which is claimed to be the largest overhaul of the grid in generations.

It is part of plans to transport power from offshore wind farms around the UK.

Pylons would cost around £1bn compared to £4.3bn to put them offshore, said National Grid.

But Cllr Hill said he wanted to "see the evidence" of the figures.

He accused National Grid of "dismissing putting the cables on the sea bed which has happened from Scotland to the Humber".

"If we believe due process hasn't been followed properly we will look at legal action," he said.

The precise line of pylons has not yet been published but a design corridor showed that, in Lincolnshire, they would run between the Wolds and the coast.

National Grid said five substations would also be built along the route.

Councillor Colin Davie, the council's environment portfolio holder, said the town of Alford was set to get two substations, one either side of the community.

"Alford will be a lost town," he told a meeting of the council's executive.

The executive voted to submit a formal objection and to commission independent experts to undertake an "urgent" review of the proposals.

In a statement, National Grid said it understood that the proposals could "cause concern in nearby communities" and said it would "be giving careful consideration to all the feedback" it received.

The first phase of public consultation ends on 13 March.

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