Where are National Grid planning to put these pylons? National Grid announced the proposed route of the North West Coast Connections on 28th October 2016. All of the cables within the Lake District National Park will be put underground which is a huge success. However, 20km of overhead lines will run just outside the National Park from Silecroft to Kirkby-in-Furness. Expand National Grid is currently consulting on the proposed route for NWCC from now until 6th January 2017. You can find detailed maps of the route here at National Grid's website. Below is an overview map of the entire route taken from National Grid's Project Information Overview document. The route takes the cables underground through the National Park to protect the landscape, but as soon as the line is outside of the Lake District, it reverts to pylons and overhead lines up the Whicham Valley and around the head of the Duddon Estuary. For 20km, there will be negative impact on the National Park which National Grid is not proposing to mitigate to prevent damage to the landscape.
Points to make in your letter to National Grid Expand Suggested points to make in your response to National Grid Despite the welcome news that powerlines within the Lake District are to be put underground, the powerlines and pylons proposed just outside of the National Park will still damage the landscape of the Lake District. The new 400kV pylon size is vastly increased compared to the 132kV pylons. The existing pylons are only 12% of the size of those proposed which are nearly twice as tall and 7 times as big by volume. National Grid keep saying that there is only a “small difference” in size. This is just not true. National Grid has not taken the setting[1] of the Lake District National Park into account in its consultation. National Grid says that the setting of a national park only applies when standing inside of the Lake District looking out. This completely disregards the experience of standing outside of the National Park looking into the high fells from places like the Duddon Valley and the Cumbrian coast. In other places where National Grid is developing power lines, it has used a definition of setting which includes views into a protected landscape. These include the Afon Glaslyn near Snowdonia and the Mendip Hills AONB in Somerset. The Lake District is a candidate World Heritage Site and should be treated accordingly. Development near World Heritage Sites is subject to strict planning regulations, which includes taking their setting into account. National Grid has not done this adequately, and the proposals for pylons in the Whicham Valley and Duddon Estuary may threaten the Lake District’s candidacy with UNESCO. National Grid has deliberately set the bar so high on what it considers to be a significant impact on the landscape from pylons that it doesn’t think it needs to put any mitigation measures in place to reduce or prevent harm to the landscape and to stop damage to the Lake District landscape from pylons just outside the boundary. National Grid needs to reconsider its evaluation of the landscape damage that its development will cause. National Grid has put forward two options that would avoid the damage that the proposed overhead lines and pylons in the Whicham Valley and the head of the Duddon Estuary setting would cause to the Lake District in its consultation. They would also avoid damaging impacts on the Duddon Mosses Special Area of Conservation, and internationally important wildlife site. These are: An offshore 400kV cable from Kirksanton to the Fylde; and A tunnel under the Duddon Estuary. However National Grid has side-lined both these options on cost grounds. One of them, the preference being the Offshore cable route should be taken forward by National Grid as a solution to the problem as National Grid should not be sacrificing our internationally important landscapes and wildlife sites on cost grounds. If neither of these options are taken forward, as a last resort, National Grid should offer undergrounding up the Whicham Valley and around the head of the Duddon Estuary to protect the Lake District National Park. National Grid has shown that it can do the right thing by the Lake District National Park when it said that it will underground the 400kV cable, it just needs to take that one last step to finish the job to protect the Whicham and Duddon Valleys landscape and wildlife. [1] The setting of a national park is the area outside whose landscape compliments that of the National Park itself, either through similarity or contrast, and in some way supports or enhances its landscape through views into or out of the National Park.
What can I do to help? Write to National Grid and MP's, Donate to our campaign, Support a local action group. Expand Write to National Grid Respond to their consultation by 6th January 2017 at the latest and urge them to put their cables underground rather than putting pylons only metres outside of the Lake District boundary. Our 'Write to Grid' page gives you the facility to compose a letter to Robert Powell at National Grid. You can help us to raise the profile of this campaign even further by opting to send your letter to Greg Clark (Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). By sending individual letters we can ensure that every one of our supporters voices is heard. WRITE TO NATIONAL GRID Donate to the campaign Working to secure the right route and avoid damage to the Lake District costs money - please support us with a donation to help make this campaign work. Type 'No to Pylons' in the comment section of the donation form and we will allocate your donation to our 'Say No to Pylons in the Lake District' campaign fund. Support a local action group There are a number of action groups setup along the western coast of Cumbria in the areas under threat from the pylons. We would urge any residents in these areas to get in touch with their local group via 'Power Without Pylons' who are leading the efforts to mobilise local people in the fight to get these connections put underground.
How big are the pylons going to be? They are the biggest type of pylon currently in use in this country. To put things in perspective, these pylons are about the same height as Nelson’s Column Expand Many people will not be aware of the dimensions and the impact of the proposed pylons, so we have listed the dimensions below and compared them with the existing 132kV pylons. They are the biggest type of pylon currently in use in this country. National Grid has stated many times in the media that their new pylons will only be slightly larger than the existing pylons. However, our calculations based on Grid's consultation details shows something very different. The 400kV pylons will be 7.76 times the volume of the existing 132kV pylons The 132kV pylons are 12.9% the volume of the proposed 400kV cables. This doesn’t include increased wire and insulator sizes which will further increase the visual impact. This photomontage by Power Without Pylons compares an existing 26m tall 132kV pylon in the Whicham Valley with one of the proposed 47m tall 400kV pylons superimposed next to it. Black Combe can be seen in the background. To put things in perspective, the 400kV pylons are about the same height as Nelson’s Column. This is a a 400kV pylon near Heysham – note the size of the lorry.
Does your campaign mean that you're against the connections and the development of Moorside power station? This isn’t a pro or anti-nuclear debate as far as we’re concerned, and we fully appreciate that we have to supply our country’s energy needs. Expand We feel that it is incumbent on NuGEN (Moorside's developer) to contribute to the cost of burying the electricity cables connecting their development and to help National Grid to put connections underground for the entire southern route from Drigg to Askham in Furness, including a tunnel underneath the Duddon Estuary. National Grid has already gone a long way towards mitigating the project by stating it will underground the cables from Drigg to Silecroft, but they need to complete the job of protecting the Lake District, and financial help from NuGEN would go a long way towards sorting this out. The Proposed Moorside Power Station Kate Willshaw, Policy Officer, “This isn’t a pro or anti-nuclear debate as far as we’re concerned, and we fully appreciate that we have to supply our country’s energy needs. Our point is that if it wasn’t for the Moorside project, there would be no need for these new 400kV lines around the west of Cumbria and the landscape damage that will be caused. “We want NuGEN and National Grid to work together to develop measures addressing the cumulative impact of the Moorside and NWCC developments on our world renowned landscapes”. Friends of the Lake District will be working to persuade National Grid and NuGEN that this is an opportunity to publicly embrace the significance of the Lake District National Park by working in partnership and ensuring that power connections are put underground, in tunnels or offshore.
I live on the West coast of Cumbria. Are there any local groups that I can join or support? We would urge any residents worried about the propsed pylon route to get in touch with 'Power Without Pylons' and lend your support to getting these connection put underground. Expand Support a local action group There are a number of action groups setup along the western coast of Cumbria in the areas under threat from the pylons. We would urge any residents in these areas to get in touch with their local group via 'Power Without Pylons' who are leading the efforts to mobilise local people in the fight to get these connections put underground. http://www.powerwithoutpylons.org.uk/
What are the grid connections for? Sourced from National Grid website detailing their North West Coast Connections project Expand Sourced from National Grid website detailing their North West Coast Connections project 'We are developing the North West Coast Connections Project (NWCC) because we need to connect and export the electricity that will be generated by Moorside, the new 3.4 GW nuclear power station that will be built near Sellafield in West Cumbria. We also need to export the power generated by new energy projects in the North West. 'There are existing Electricity North West (ENW) pylon lines which run around the west coast of Cumbria and Lancashire distributing the electricity used by homes and businesses across the region. Operating at 132kV and below, these lines cannot carry the amount of electricity a power station the size of Moorside will generate. 'This means that we need to build a new high voltage connection from Moorside to our existing National Grid electricity transmission network. The closest places on our network where these circuits can connect are over 50 kilometres (31 miles) away from the site.'