Louth MP blasts 'carbuncle' pylons plan as expert warns of threat 'not seen since Ice Age'

Up to 400 pylons, 50 metres high, as well as giant substations, including two at Alford, are proposed by National Grid for an 87-mile stretch of land from Grimsby to Walpole in Norfolk.

They are part of a major electricity infrastucture upgrade, aimed at creating cleaner, greener energy that would help the county reach net zero and cut the bills of consumers.

However, the plans have infuriated residents and councillors across the Louth and Horncastle area, where Conservative MP Victoria Atkins is leading the protests.

Fresh from being appointed the new shadow secretary for environment, food and rural affairs, Mrs Atkins labelled the pylons “carbuncles” that would blight communities.

"I am against these carbuncles being plonked on our undeveloped coastlines, particularly in my constituency,” she said. “They would have a real life impact on people in the Alford area but along the coastline as well.

"I am arguing that we should set up a second grid offshore or look at underground cabling options. They’ve done this elsewhere, so why are they treating Lincolnshire differently?”

The reason behind the project is to take green energy, generated in Scotland, and transport it through Lincolnshire to the south-east of the country, where it is needed.

National Grid says the cost of the pylons would be about £1 billion, whereas the underground option would be £6.5 billion and an offshore sub-sea cable would cost £4.3 billion.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the overground pylons need to go ahead, but Lincolnshire County Council remains vehemently opposed and has sought legal advice to try and stop all the construction work.

Meanwhile, sustainability consultant Andy Roberts has warned that the project presents a much bigger threat than the visual eyesore of pylons and substations.

Mr Roberts, who is a key member of the Stop East Lincolnshire Pylons protest group and also part of the Community Assembly of Louth Facebook group, has spoken at several public meetings about the controversial plans.

He says: “The most important aspect is the landing of multiple under-sea cables from North Sea wind farms and Scotland. This is planned near Theddlethorpe and is the reason for the building of five huge substations.

"Without these cables, there is no electricity to be converted and transformed at substations. And without substations, there is no need for pylons, which are used to take away AC electricity.”

Mr Roberts fears that the area’s agriculture, tourism and traditional rural way of life could face a death sentence if National Grid’s project is allowed.

"The substations would become the heart of an energy hub that’s destined to be the biggest in England,” he added. “Within a 15-mile range of the Alford substations, there is a strong possibility of 50,000 acres of farmland being turned over to solar and wind farms.

"This North Sea power should not make landfall in Lincolnshire. The cables would be better continuing under the sea down to the Thames Estuary.

"If it does land here, we will see a new industrial revolution in East Lindsey, bringing change not seen since the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago.”