Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
This makes a mockery of our planning process
MP shocked over premature start to work on pylons scheme Exclusive
Work on the controversial erection of towering pylons through the Canterbury countryside has started – before the Secretary of State has even given it the go-ahead.
The Gazette has discovered preparatory groundwork is already underway at Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate, close to where the project – called the Richborough Connection – will begin.
The news has alarmed Canterbury MP Sir Julian Brazier, who says it “makes a mockery” of the planning process.
“I’m very concerned to hear this,” he said. “It is effectively like saying it’s all over bar the shouting.”
National Grid has applied to erect about 70 pylons, each the height of Canterbury Cathedral, from Richborough to a sub-station in Broad Oak Road.
The overhead line will pass through Sarre, Upstreet, Hersden, Westbere and Broad Oak.
It is part of a bigger scheme involving the laying of undersea cables from Belgium to Ramsgate – called the Nemo Link – to bring in supplies of Continental electricity.
Following a six- month inquiry, a planning inspector is due to present the findings to Environment Minister Andrea Leadsom by Wednesday. Mrs Leadsom will then have three months to consider the evidence.
The Gazette has discovered the contract for bringing the undersea cabling in at Pegwell Bay was actually awarded as far back as 2015.
There is now evidence of site preparation works at the Pegwell Bay nature reserve.
Mr Brazier, who objected to the application along with the region’s two other MPS, said: “It makes a mockery of the planning process.
He has now written to Mrs Leadsom expressing concerns about the development.
In it he says: “I was shocked to discover that, with no result yet come back from the inquiry, it seems that the promoter has already started to hand out large-scale contracts because it is so confident of success.
“This proposal threatens to blight villages all along the route and will wreck the Canterbury skyline.
“I understand that the application comes before you shortly. I cannot stress enough how opposed I am to this permanent disfiguration of our historic city.”
Mr Brazier and the region’s two other MPS have campaigned against the pylons being erected around Canterbury.
He has urged National Grid to consider bringing the Nemo Link in at Kingsnorth, near Ashford, which he says would have far less impact on the countryside.
The Richborough Connection planning application has also been challenged by the city council, Kent County Council and residents who say the countryside will be blighted by the forest of pylons.
A National Grid spokesman confirmed the Nemo Link is dependent on the Richborough Connection being signed-off by the Secretary of State.
Nemo Link project director Mike Elmer said: “The Nemo Link interconnector will connect the UK and Belgian’s electricity systems via subsea cables, allowing the two countries to trade electricity.
“Preparatory works commenced in September 2015 as part of plans to build a converter station at the proposed Richborough Energy Park.
“The project is aware that the Richborough Connection consent application is currently being reviewed, prior to a decision by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and awaits this decision with interest.
“Nemo Link is on course to be complete and operational in early 2019.”
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