Suffolk is under siege by an invasion of new energy projects in a manner that is both unprecedented and uncoordinated.
SPS views National Grid’s proposal of an additional 400kV pylon line through Suffolk from Norwich to Tilbury with profound concern.
We acknowledge the national need for renewable energy and its transmission, but call for solutions that are better and greener, not just bigger and faster.
The national imperative to reach net zero and achieve energy security must not be at the expense of our county’s landscapes and heritage.
We are gravely concerned by the reliance on 70 year old technology and call for a greener infrastructure to support green energy.
Growing concerns about a lack of well thought through policies and joined up thinking around National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade (GGU) led SPS (along with Essex and Norfolk branches of the CPRE, the countryside charity) to commission the 2024 Greening the Great Grid Upgrade report.
The report is a detailed critique of the GGU’s strengths and weaknesses and how it might be improved to reduce the impacts on the countryside and ensure that impacted communities are properly heard.
The report concludes that National Grid is hurrying ahead too fast with its plans, risking leaving a legacy of individual projects that may be surplus to energy requirements, do not integrate with each other, fail to maximise their full environmental benefits and marginalise affected communities.
The 2023 Hiorns’ report (prepared for Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk county councils) exposed serious holes in the needs case for the Norwich to Tilbury scheme, including overestimation of the urgency of connection.
We therefore recommend that the Norwich to Tilbury scheme is halted.
SPS remains deeply concerned by the Norwich to Tilbury plans. This reliance upon a primitive, outdated technology will have the effect of industrialising large swathes of the East Anglian countryside.
We call for a prioritizing of alternative routing/provision arising from offshore grids/offshore cabling solutions, onshore co-ordination, rationalisation of existing routes/lines, alternative pylon design, significantly enhanced screening and mitigation/net gain opportunities. We also expect full compensation for landscape and visual impacts that cannot be effectively mitigated.
Consultations:
July 2024 – SPS has responded to the statutory consultation – read our response here.
August 2023 – SPS made a detailed response to the second round of non-statutory consultation on the proposals – more details available here.