Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Essex and Sussex councils join forces to fight renewable energy plans

Political leaders across the east coast are uniting to call on the Government to protect food security and rural communities by slowing down the transition to net zero.

Lincolnshire County Council is working with colleagues in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk to fight against a host of renewable energy projects which have been earmarked for the region - in order to bring energy from Scottish wind farms into the national grid.

Council leaders are calling for the transition to net zero to be slowed down by five years to make underground cabling cheaper in order to reduce the impact on rural communities and the loss of valuable farmland.

Under National Grid proposals, energy generated by wind farms off the coast of Scotland would travel through seabed cables to Lincolnshire. From there, they plan to build a network of pylons running through Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, to Tilbury in Essex – covering a distance of more than 200 miles.

This comes as the Government today (Friday, December 13) has announced that it is looking to put the power of approving onshore wind farms in the hands of ministers instead of councils.

Lincolnshire County Council leader, Coun Martin Hill, said: “We recognise the need for alternative types of energy and the importance of decarbonisation and meeting net zero targets.

“But this need for change cannot come at the expense of rural communities across the east of England, who are not being listened to in this rush to meet environmental targets.

“National Grid appears to have given no consideration to compensation for farmers and homeowners, the cost and impact of additional infrastructure like roads to support this new pylon network, or the economic impact on tourism on the east coast and in areas of natural beauty.

“This is why we're working together to urge National Grid and the government to properly consider alternative ways of bringing offshore energy onshore, to put the communities that will be most impacted at the heart of their decision, and to recognise that pushing ahead with their plans as they stand will have a huge negative economic, ecological and environmental impact on our rural communities.

“These are impacts that could be significantly reduced, if only more consideration were given to alternative solutions.”

In Lincolnshire, an 87-mile line of 164ft high electricity pylons would run through the countryside, from Grimsby to Walpole, just over the Norfolk border.

National Grid insist that installing pylons along the east of England is the cheapest option. But the councils argue that the Grid have failed to provide enough evidence that the have fully explored and costed the different ways that energy generated in Scotland can be transported to the south.

Local leaders across eastern England believe that undersea or underground options would be much better, with significantly less impact on rural communities.