This is the scene visitors to Lincolnshire could face if proposals by the National Grid to place 50 meter high pylons across the county go ahead. National Grid says it is necessary to prepare for the planned new offshore generation. However, Lincolnshire County Council fears the infastructure could harm tourism.
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00:00 This is the scene visitors to Lincolnshire could face if proposals by
00:04 National Grid to place 50 meter high pylons across the county go ahead.
00:08 National Grid say pylons are necessary to prepare for the planned new offshore
00:14 generation. However, Lincolnshire County Council fears the infrastructure could harm tourism.
00:20 What it will do is it will destroy the coastal tourism sector which is worth
00:26 800 million pounds a year because who is going to come from the Midlands and
00:32 South Yorkshire which is already industrialized to an industrialized
00:37 landscape for a holiday? They come here to escape all of that. If the first thing
00:42 they see when they come over the walls is giant pylons and offshore turbines
00:48 everywhere that's not an attractive view. Secondly, we spent a lot of time
00:53 creating a wonderful natural environment on the coast, something that we can be
00:57 proud of nationally. We've just opened the King's Coronation Nature Reserve here
01:02 as an example and we've been working for a long time to make this area a
01:08 UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's one of the most important bird migratory routes
01:13 in the world and pylons and birds do not mix in any way shape or form so that
01:20 would be devastating too. Then of course you've got all the people on the whole
01:24 length of the route living within three to five kilometers of the pylon route.
01:29 Their property values on their homes are going to be devalued by anything from
01:35 20 to 50 percent I would say depending on where their property is in relation
01:40 to the pylons. So I'm very clear if they want to do this then it will be a
01:48 travesty when there are better options. Firstly they should be like doing like
01:53 the Dutch do, looking at an offshore grid, connecting these giant offshore wind
01:57 farms together, using offshore substations and then taking a cable route
02:02 down to Tilbury or the south of England which is where the power is going. This
02:07 power is not for Lincolnshire. There is no benefit for the people of Lincolnshire
02:12 for leaf proposals. Yet again it's Lincolnshire paying the price for
02:17 government failure, government policy chaos and for the benefit of the people
02:23 of London and the South East. Nothing of benefit to the residents that I serve
02:28 and look after or the economy that I'm here to champion and promote. If it has
02:35 to come on shore the County Council is very clear we will not tolerate pylons.
02:40 The cables will have to be buried. We have done that, we've facilitated and
02:45 worked with the Viking Link and Triton Knob and now with the Outer Dowsing
02:50 offshore wind farm to put those cables into the ground so we protect our
02:55 wonderful landscapes and natural environment. I am not prepared to accept
03:01 this argument it's the cheapest option rubbish that comes from all these kind
03:05 of organisations. Most of them can't organise a party in a brewery when it
03:11 comes to budgets. Whatever they say it's going to cost you can quadruple it.
03:14 Whatever it's going to cost we'll be paying the bill because it will be
03:18 going on our energy bills and 10% off our energy bills when they've gone up by
03:24 another 50% to cover the cost of this scheme is hardly going to be a benefit
03:29 to anyone quite clearly. So County Council will oppose it because it is
03:35 against our policy position and National Grid should go and do the right thing.
03:40 I want to see the absolute accurate costings by them for an offshore grid
03:47 versus an onshore pylon route versus a buried pylon route. I don't want it on the
03:53 back of an envelope. They need to go away and do the work necessary to prove what
03:58 they're saying because I don't think that work's been done and also you
04:02 should know the National Grid own a subsidiary company that has now worked
04:07 out how to upgrade existing pylons to make them six, seven times more useful in
04:16 terms of the amount of power they can carry. So why aren't we looking at that
04:20 as well? I just don't believe some of the stories I hear for organisations like
04:26 National Grid. Nothing in our country is functioning the way it
04:30 needs to. We need to get value for the taxpayer, value for the consumer and make
04:35 sure we protect the world that we live in. This is our place and our place
04:40 should be looked after for future generations and I'm prepared to do my bit to
04:44 ensure that happens. But everybody living on this route, impacted by these
04:50 proposals, can't expect just us to do this. They all need to engage and oppose
04:55 these proposals. Can you explain what the National Grid's Great Grid upgrade is all
05:02 about? So National Grid's Great Grid upgrade is around reinforcing the
05:11 existing network to allow us to connect up to 50 gigawatts of offshore wind. It's
05:19 important to note that the existing electricity transmission system was
05:28 originally built in the 1960s and at that stage there was