Nailsea pylon protest - the latest news
By Carol_Deacon | Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 11:46
Pylon protesters must be wondering what is happening about the threat to wildlife and property prices in Nailsea and when politicians and/or planners are going to decide.
Since National Grid announced it wanted to straddle the countryside from Avonmouth to Bridgwater with massive pylons the outcry has been huge.
The multi-billion pound scheme to link a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley with 37 miles of overland metal structures saw West County MPs, district, town and parish councillors and more importantly the people of Somerset unite in opposition.
There have been debates in parliament, petitions to No10, articles in the media backed by local celebrities, marches and many, many mailshots.
But where are we now?
Well the coalition government is looking at protecting landscapes from transmission towers and overhead power lines but whether the bit between Backwell and Nailsea or on the west side of town would be considered important enough is the question.
The House of Commons energy and climate change committee wants planning reforms clarified and is urging that more power lines are put underground.
The committee has noted ‘a significant source of concern in Suffolk and Somerset where National Grid has proposed major new projects’ and says ‘the situating of cables underground is necessary to reduce the visual impacts of energy networks infrastructure. These areas should include, but not be limited to, national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty’.
Although man-made Backwell Lake and the valley it lies in is considered visually and environmentally important but as it isn’t the Mendips hills its status is unknown.
Wraxall and Failand Parish Council chairman Chris Ambrose has written to all councils along the proposed National Grid route in the West Country.
Mr Ambrose said: “The Government has to reply to select committees reports and will therefore have to deal with the recommendations.
“This is promising and encouraging and reflects the success of the work put in by many people, and, while we may be justifiably proud of our achievements to date, a lot of work still needs to done if we are to achieve the changes we need.”
Wraxall Parish Council has already submitted a 100-page report which said going subsea along the Bristol Channel is no more costly.
Sue Turner, of Save Our Valley campaign, is appealing for people living in the Nailsea area to ‘please help to save our area from pylon blight by voting on a new website to support the campaign to Put Power Lines Underground.
Mrs Turner, of Bucklands View, said: “This site has recently been used very successfully in the Stop The Privatisation Of Forests campaign, achieving some 644,000 votes.
“When the Put Power Lines Underground campaign gets to a certain level of support the website provides interfaces to correspond with your MP, check how they voted in Parliament.
“The site is a little strange in the way the voting works, you can vote three times! But to actually vote you must click on the vote 3 button. We have noticed some people have added a comment but not actually voted.”
Click HERE to vote and add a comment.
Alva energy consultant analyst Nicholas Chrysanthou has commented online about the Nailsea protest.
He said: “The level of organisation and sophistication that has gone into single issue protest campaigns has increased, with utilities facing particularly vocal campaigns relating to projects deemed to negatively impact the local environment.
The proliferation of social media sites has facilitated this activism, he said.
At a recent National Symposium on future electricity networks organised by Suffolk County Council and attended by people from Somerset the case was argued that energy regulation and policy should encourage much greater use of underground and subsea transmission to safeguard landscapes.
Click HERE for more details.
Locally representatives of pressure groups Save our Valley and Save Nailsea West, as well as Nailsea Town Council and Wraxall and Failand Parish Council are working together.
Nailsea town clerk Ian Morrell said: “The objectives of the group have been to oppose National Grid’s assumption that an almost entirely overground route for transmissions lines from Hinkley to Seabank is the only option.
“The Action Group has focused on objecting to National Grid’s flawed consultation process and calling for an independent review of costs and technology.
“As a result of pressure at national level, the independent review is now being undertaken.
“National Grid has also instituted a national review of its policy for undergrounding cables.
“In conjunction with this, detailed expert submissions have been made by various groups to try and get changes to regulations and legislation to produce a forward-thinking and integrated approach to the provision of new and replacement transmission lines.
“It is not clear when National Grid might make a proposal for its preferred corridor route, and the Action Group is preparing itself to respond swiftly to that as and when it happens.
“It is fair to say that 12 months ago there was some skepticism about the influence that local pressure groups could have on proposals made by a company like National Grid.
“The success achieved to date has exceeded expectations, but there is still a long way to go. Without doubt the achievements to date have resulted from close collaboration among a diverse range of local groups in the south-west and elsewhere.”
The two main questions asked at the National Electricity Transmission Symposium organised by Suffolk County Council in London in January were:
· Are current regulatory and policy regimes flexible enough to fully exploit new technologies and innovations to be fit for the future? And
· Can the latest advances in technology provide viable alternatives to overhead cabling?
No Moor Pylons spokesman Paul Hipwell, of Yatton, said: "We are calling on the Government to take a fundamental look at how electricity is transported to customers from offshore wind fields and from nuclear reactors sited on the coast.
“More unsightly pylons marching across our countryside are not the answer.
“We believe that undersea cabling has the potential to form a new network suitable for the new patterns of energy generation and demand. I want to see what we can do to influence Government, Ofgem, National Grid and others to act on what we have to say.”
And MP Tim Yeo, who is chairman of the select committee, said: “It would be a scandal if we do not end up with an electricity transmission system fit for the 21st century.
“There is an opportunity, given that we are going to renew or increase a lot of our electricity transmission capacity, to do it in a 21st century sustainable way and it would be scandalous if we let some consulted regulatory structure or the short sightedness of the companies responsible stop this happening.”
Mr Hipwell compared electricity pylons to other outdated technologies like manual typewriters or LP records.
He said: “In the 21st century, we should be putting electricity lines underground like they have done for the London Olympic site.
“What is good for tourists to the London Olympics should be good for tourists to Constable Country or the Somerset Levels.
“The UK should be taking the lead on technology, adopting underground technology for all of the new electricity lines needed for nuclear power and offshore wind farms.
“Going underground would protect our countryside and create new jobs for the UK, something we desperately need.”
The Government has commissioned an independent study by the Institution of Engineering and Technology along with international consultancy KEMA into the costs of new high-voltage overhead power cables against the economics of laying cables underground or under the sea around the coast.
The report was due out in January but has been delayed.
National Grid has also announced a consultation on its undergrounding policy but campaigners in Somerset have called for the consultation to be delayed until the costing study is completed, so that the public can decide on the basis of up-to-date and independent information.
Comments
A similar fight is taking place at this time in Mid Wales where National Grid are proposing to build a 20acre hub ( large sub station) and then 50 km of 400kv overhead lines for 50 km through the lovely Montgomeryshire countryside. Huge concerns here, huge calls for undergrounding or the complete abandonment ofrthe project.
Both campaigns need to have regard for each other,,,
wynnejones
wynnetjones@hotmail.com
By wynnejones at 11:12 on 23/04/11
ReportI discovered an additional bit of research on the effects on health of overhead power lines. It was carried out by a certain Peter Staheli whose findings suggest that it is not so much electromagnetic fields that are a problem for health, but the electrostatic charge being generated on the HT lines themselves. The buzzing and crackling you can hear from ground level is an electrostatic effect or high voltage potential difference which causes the ionization of the air around the cables. Positive ion clouds are being generated, particularly in dry weather, similar to the infamous ‘sick winds’ like the Foehn and the Chinook. Staheli found that these positive ion clouds will cause electrostatic charges to build up on living tissue that is insulated from the ground….through wearing rubber soled shoes or living in modern houses. These charges, if not earthed, are deemed responsible for interfering with the central nervous system and causing diseases. Read about Staheli’s work by copying and pasting the following link into google: http://tinyurl.com/48amfav
In connection with the dangers of electrostatic effects, I recently came upon a man on the internet (Clint Ober) who has created an industry based his research into electrostatics and health. Ober’s researches led him to begin marketing ‘Earthing’ or ‘Grounding’ products. Apparently, people report remission of stubborn symptoms simply by lying ‘grounded’ in bed at night on one of Ober’s ‘Earthing Sheets’. Obviously, the reported unhealthy electrostatic effects are going to be much worse for those living near HT power lines. Read about Clint Ober’s discovery by copying and pasting the following link into google: http://tinyurl.com/4v8hwbt
You don’t need me to state the obvious by saying how wonderful electricity is. However, the truth about anything is often a double sided coin. For example, democracy is said to be wonderful and yet it is democracy that has allowed successive governments of unrealistic people to get us 4 trillion quid in debt! The motor car is wonderful, but we are now living in a huge car park and exhaust fumes are causing global warming. If we found the elixir of life, we would then be faced with even more overpopulation. There is a ‘dark side’ to everything, even electricity. And you can be totally certain that this ‘dark side’ to electricity will be played down or denied by those who have a vested interest in it. It is up to the individual to investigate the full (double-sided) truth about anything.
Because the affairs of this country have been mismanaged for many years, the system has become so polarised that it can only be made to work at all on a ‘Rob Peter to pay Paul’ basis. Currently the ordinary hard working citizen is paying with their jobs and services for the abject folly of the authorities, successive governments and the bankers. The pattern repeats itself everywhere there is polarisation or one-sidedness. On an individual level, if you have a neurosis your body can only operate when one part is robbed (creating a symptom) to feed and benefit another overemphasised part. So the National Grid will not hesitate to rob the citizens of North Somerset of their quality of life in order to benefit share holders and provide cheaper electricity for those living elsewhere. This they will do. If you’re looking for a word to describe the common pattern of development, call it ‘Mammon’.
By tomhornuk at 16:44 on 24/02/11
ReportHealth risks and 24/7 crackling and buzzing from huge overhead pylons - now I am really worried. The National Grid community update dropped through my letterbox this morning. It says it received more than 8,000 individual feedbacks from its consultation but is asking us to comment again but promises its 'revised approach' to undergrounding will be published in April. Can't wait. Keep your comments coming...thanks
By Carol_Deacon at 15:18 on 19/02/11
ReportThe reasons for undergrounding or preferably subsea is not primarily the visual aspect. There is a growing consensus with regards to serious health issues from the electromagnetic fields from powerlines. It is with this concern in mind, many european countries are adopting a precautionary stance and insisting these high voltage cables are sited a considerable distance away from properties 200m-400m. Now countries like Sweden and Germany are not doing this on the back of some dubious research. There is a growing body of evidence to support these views. Why our government and National Grid seem not to be towing the line, is because the horrendous economic backlash there would be if any slight admittance by them was made public. We must also bear in mind that these new powerlines will be carrying vast amounts of power from Hinckley C and the proposed windfarms in the Bristol channel. They will make the existing lines in Nailsea West look insignificant. Not only will you have this increased magnetic field health issue, you will also be subject to constant buzzing and crackling heard upto several hundred metres away, accentuated when the fogs and rainfall occur, in iitself is a health issue. This isn't like a roadway which has quiet periods at night, this is 24hrs, 7 days a week for the next 60 years. There is also the blight to property values, visual blight, bird strikes. Now if you feel that is nimbyism, then protecting my childrens health, my property, my countryside then I am proud to be a nimby. There are alternatives however, National Grid are currently putting in plans to lay 40km of high voltage underground cable in the Wirral. They are also carrying out studies for a subsea link from the Wylfa nuclear power station in Anglesey to Pembroke funded by OFGEM at a cost of £1 million. They have also completed a deep bore tunnel 20-60m deep in the London Olympic village to enable the existing pylons to be removed. Environmental damage was minimised in that case. If pylons were adopted in Nailsea, there would be a pylon every 350m, 50m high, massive concrete piling foundations which in itself would destroy large swathes of land. When the campaign began in Nailsea in October 2009, there was massive outcrys, rightly so, Liam Fox had his largest ever postbag, and the save our valley team carried out admirable work in highlighting the issues. As with a lot of campaigns, especially long drawn out, due partly to the protestations from residents and campaign groups, their tends to be a dropping off of wills, this is a vunerable time because this is when National Grid may pounce. I urge all residents in Nailsea and beyond, to begin again writing to Liam, supporting the 38 degrees petition, save our valley and congratulating North Somerset council on their determined and justifiable stance. The announcement from National Grid will come soon so do not let all the hard work you have carried out in the past go to waste.
By harleyglide at 18:23 on 18/02/11
ReportMay I just restate the North Somerset Council position?
The cables should go under the sea or under land.
We have difficulty with the consultation of children undertaken, or not.
There are concerns over certain health clusters already in Nailsea and need to be reassured that these have not been caused by the current cables respectfully pointing out that it is not a matter of killing children but of degrading performance which can leave the power transmission company open for very great civil liabilities.
These concerns have been pointed out but never addressed.
J Blatchford
LMCS North Somerset
By J_Blatchford at 16:42 on 18/02/11
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