Cabinet Member for Planning
Additional documents:
Decision:
This item is exempt from call-in under Grounds of Urgency, as agreed with the Chair of the Council.
It was RESOLVED: -
1. To respond to the consultation.
2. That the Assistant Director for Planning and Building Control, in collaboration with the Cabinet Members for Planning and the Leader of the Council consider any proposed amendments to the suggested response and be authorised to make amendments before submitting a response to the Government.
REASON FOR DECISION
To ensure the comments of the councils are set out for consideration by National Grid in the further stages of the project.
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:
2.1 To respond to the consultation with the response as set out in appendix a.
2.2 To respond to the consultation with proposed amendments to the responses set out in appendix a.
2.3 To not respond to the consultation.
Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None
Any Dispensation Granted: None
Minutes:
The Chair, Councillor Ward invited the Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Arthey to introduce the report.
7.1 Councillor Arthey provided a brief summary of the item and proposed the recommendations in the report, and this was seconded by Councillor Busby.
7.2 Councillor Ward advised Cabinet that he had invited Ward Members to present their responses to the Consultation at the meeting. He then read a response received from Councillor Carpendale:
Response received from Councillor Sue Carpendale
Please would you add my following comments to those that will be presented to Cabinet on this matter. I'm unable to be present. I can't offer you any expertise, but my comments reflect my own views and those of residents in my ward. I know that some of these residents will be making their own, very substantial and well-argued objections direct to the consultation. I am completely supportive of their objections. Thanks.
I attended the consultation event and exhibition at Holton St Mary on 17th May 2022, and requested further information, including a set of maps. The event was busy, with many people present. As one might have expected, I didn’t hear one positive comment.
The proposed corridor for these massive 50m pylons passes along the edge of my ward. Needless to say, nearby residents are horrified and alarmed by the prospect. However, the proximity of these pylons is not just an issue for people living close by. The maps illustrating the 180km pylon corridor from Norfolk to Essex demonstrate the appalling intrusion into the area, both visually and in terms of land use and disturbance. I do not believe that undergrounding a short section through the AONB is either sufficient or acceptable, given the impact on the environment, including wildlife and natural habitat.
I am wholly supportive of the lobby gaining traction, at levels from our regional MPs at Westminster through to local residents, that a supply network of this magnitude should be routed sub-sea and river in its entirety. If France can ship power to the UK across the channel, the technology clearly exists.
Furthermore, in view of the number of power cuts suffered as a result of weather-related events, and in a time of climate change when there is a likelihood of more frequent and severe weather events, it surely does not make sense to erect such an important, long term and strategically significant power supply in a manner which will not guarantee continuity of operation.
This proposal is a monstrous imposition on rural East Anglia and dismissive of alternative supply-route technologies.
7.3 The Chair, Councillor Ward invited Councillor Hinton to present his response to Cabinet:
7.4 Councillor Hinton thanked the Chair and continued:
This proposal is, as Councillor Carpendale has pointed out in her written submission, extremely intrusive across a wide swathe of countryside from Norfolk all the way down through into Essex. It chomps through parts of my Ward, and across Stour Vale, and will be extremely intrusive, more intrusive than the power network already in place. ... view the full minutes text for item 7