pylons

Regular readers of Hinterland may remember last year I mentioned National Grid’s pylon design competition. Since then, there has been press coverage on underground cables and whether this could save the countryside from the march of the pylons. This has opened up disputes about the costs of underground cables (is it 30 times more to bury cables or 10 times?), the need for public consultation and how to maintain reliable supplies of electricity. What remains clear is that the appearance of these structures across hundreds of miles of British countryside is once again causing controversy, this time in Suffolk and Constable Country. The National Grid is proposing to bury 5 miles of the 17 mile route between Bramford (near Ipswich) and Twinstead (Essex). On the one hand, Shaun Hughes, the project manager for National Grid, has described having a quarter of the route underground as “a considerable amount”. On the other hand, anti-pylon campaigners have said their views have been ignored and that the pylons will be huge and blight the landscape. Tim Yeo, the Conservative MP for South Suffolk, said: “We could have policy where all future lines should be undergrounded – the cost to the consumer is about £5 a year and the countryside is too valuable to be lost in this way”. Do Hinterland readers want our landscape wired up or wire free?