Green Party’s Suffolk MP calls for pause on East Anglia pylons plan

A newly elected Green Party MP has called for a “pause” on a proposed 114-mile (184-km) electricity pylon route across East Anglia.

The National Grid wants to build the new power lines from Norwich to Tilbury in Essex, which it has called “vital infrastructure”.

Adrian Ramsay, the Waveney Valley MP, said the proposal required a “proper options assessment” that should be considered by the new Labour government.

The government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the public consultation was ongoing, but the UK needed to improve “outdated” energy infrastructure.

Having arrived for his first day at the House of Commons, Mr Ramsay, who is the Greens’ co-leader nationally, said: “There’s a controversial proposal… where there’s huge local concern about the impact on agricultural land, on traffic, on local communities, on the landscape.

“So what I’m arguing for is a pause while the other options are considered, because of course we need the infrastructure; it’s a matter of doing it in the right way that has a long-term benefit.”

National Grid, a private firm, wants to build the power line to carry 50 gigawatts of electricity generated by offshore windfarms and has said the previous government had set a target of doing this by 2030.

Apart from underground sections beneath the River Stour and Dedham Vale and at Great Horkesley in Essex, it would be carried on pylons.

Mr Ramsay said Green councillors who run Mid Suffolk District Council had been arguing for an alternative to be properly considered, including the idea of an offshore grid.

But in a statement, National Grid said it had carefully assessed several alternative options, including offshore options, adding it had shaped its policy around public consultations already undertaken.

“Delaying this vital infrastructure project would not only result in missing this target, but also delay homes and businesses in East Anglia and beyond having access to cleaner and more affordable electricity in the long term,” it said.

Meanwhile, Mr Ramsay welcomed the decision by Labour to lift a de facto ban on onshore wind farms.

“That is welcome, yes, absolutely we need to see more renewable energy in the UK of various sorts, done in the right way, and so Labour have taken a step in the right direction with that,” he said.

He also called for “a nationwide programme to get people’s homes insulated in a way that keeps bills down, keeps homes warm, and that’s something we’ll be pushing the government to do much more on”.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Securing Britain’s clean energy future requires improving outdated infrastructure to get renewable electricity on the grid and unleash its true potential.

“National Grid has put the Norwich to Tilbury proposals out for public consultation and like all infrastructure, these proposals would be subject to a rigorous planning permission process.”