An update on East Anglia Green from Sir Bernard Jenkin MP
Dear residents
You are receiving this email as one of the many hundreds of concerned residents of Harwich and North Essex who have contacted me about various aspects of the East Anglia Green pylon proposals. I continue to be struck by the numbers of emails I am receiving on this issue, the strength of feelings against the proposals and the many emails expressing thanks for my work chairing the Offset group of MPs pressing the Government for a more strategically sound off-shore option. I am grateful for your kind words and share your exasperation over this threat to our countryside.
It has been a busy few weeks working to secure serious consideration for the off-shore option, with coverage in the Express and a Ministerial meeting I want to update you on. While I am making case with my colleagues for the offshore option, I am also making representations to the Government to amend the current proposals and remove the nonsensical double run of pylons to Ardleigh and the plainly unsuitable, large substation.
I want to be clear, my efforts arguing for mitigations to the current plans are by no means an acceptance of the proposals. They highlight just some of the flaws which undermine the current proposals and it is important these areas of contention are made clear to the Government to strengthen the case for thinking again.
On Monday, I chaired a meeting of the OFFSET MPs with Minister for Energy Andrew Bowie MP. We pressed the minister to flesh out new plans that would replace the 110 km of proposed pylons and overhead lines across open countryside. As you all know, this would in the longer term require less infrastructure and would be £6nb cheaper.
We made clear the sheer scale of the opposition to National Grid’s ‘East Anglia Green’ proposals, evident from the vast numbers of emails like your own I and my colleagues have received. We asked what the purpose is going to be of a second non-statutory consultation on these plans, without alternative plans to consider. The minister accepted the point. The existing plans are contracted, in some cases, but still subject to planning permission, so nothing is set in stone. Again, the minister accepted responsibility on this point.
We are pleased that National Grid has announced an off-shore review, to look at offshore alternatives. The problem is that wind farm developers already have plans for connecting to the national grid, and are under time pressure. Unless the government can provide new policy and the regulatory framework necessary for an offshore proposal in good time, then why is the government bothering to spend money on possible alternatives? I am pleased that the minister sounded determined to grip this, and promised a timeline of decisions needed and when they will be taken. Unless these plans change radically, I also explained that the Pylons Campaign legal advice suggested that East Anglia Green could be stopped in the Courts, which would lead to unacceptable delays to the Net Zero objective.
We shall continue to press this case with all levels of the Government and I shall send a further update following any major developments in the future. For now, I am grateful for the interest you have shown in this issue and for adding your voice to the groundswell of public opinion against the pylons.
For those of you who may have missed my article in the Express last week which made much the same case as we made to the Minister on Monday, you can the article here:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1769555/suffolk-landscapes-new-ele...
I am also looking to attend a local meeting on this issue so that I can answer any questions residents may have on Offset’s work in person again. I will make sure to update you when this meeting is arranged with details of the location and date.
Best wishes
Yours
Bernard Jenkin