Campaign group Save Minster Marshes is among 18 signatories on a letter to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to say offering energy bill discounts to people living near new pylons installed as part of the country’s clean power targets is “wholly inadequate.”
The government has announced that under powers in the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, households within 500 metres of new or upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure will get electricity bill discounts of up to £250 a year for 10 years.
Alongside money off bills, separate new guidance will set out how developers should ensure communities hosting transmission infrastructure can benefit, by funding projects like sports clubs, educational programmes, or leisure facilities.
But groups including Save Minster Marshes say electricity bill discounts are not the answer.
In the letter, the groups say: “Discounts off electricity bills are not the answer – they do not adequately address the concerns of local communities, nor would they facilitate faster delivery of energy infrastructure.
“It became evident through the consultation process that bill discounts are unpopular with impacted communities. These communities are facing the prospect of their landscapes, businesses, farms, wildlife and heritage being irrevocably damaged.
“The economic harm is already being felt, with people unable to sell (or buy) homes. In these circumstances, offering a discount on electricity bills is seen as wholly inadequate – and missing the point.”
Save Minster Marshes say no-one in Thanet would benefit from discounted bills related to the infrastructure planned by National Grid, which includes a 28-metre high, 90,000 square metre onshore converter station at Minster marshes in the Stour Valley.
The proposals outline a preferred route which includes landfall in Pegwell Bay to the proposed converter station site and high voltage pylons over the land to the south of Minster.
There are no residents within 500 metres but it will be devastating for wildlife as Minster Marshes is adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the cable will come onshore through Pegwell Bay nature reserve which has SSSI, RAMSAR, SAC and National Nature Reserve status.
A Save Minster Marshes spokesperson said: “’The impact of National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade on rural and coastal communities around the UK will be enormous.
“All the local campaign groups share similar concerns, and we hope that by working together, we can be less easily dismissed by central government.
“National Grid is a private company. A profit-driven approach with zero regard for the environment is the wrong way forward. There are better ways out there and the government must insist the upgrade is delivered in a way that is best for Britain, not National Grid’s shareholders.”
The campaign groups are instead calling for financial compensation for every person or business left out of pocket, appraisal of project alternatives, proper engagement with communities instead of dismissing them as ‘blockers’ and using up-to-date approaches and reports.
They are also calling for a national enquiry to determine the best and most efficient energy strategy for the whole UK.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “The only way to make Britain energy secure and bring down bills for good is to get Britain off dependence on fossil fuel markets and replace it with clean, homegrown power that we control.
“To do this, we need to get Britain building right now. And as part of that, we are delivering on our landmark commitment to ensure that people who live near infrastructure meaningfully benefit.
“This will benefit the whole country by ensuring we build the clean power system we need.”
The government says the new community funds guidance means communities could get £200,000 worth of funding per km of overhead electricity cable in their area, and £530,000 per substation.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill had its First Reading in the House of Commons this week.
The bill discount scheme is expected to apply to new onshore, above ground transmission cables and associated infrastructure (such as substations) and some major upgrades of existing projects in Great Britain.
Bill discounts are expected to be in place from 2026 and the community funds guidance will come into force as soon as it is published on Monday.
There once was a fellow named Clyde,
Who welcomed a pylon with pride.
“For two-fifty smackers,
I’ll live with the zappers—
And toast all my bread on the side!”
There once was a fellow named Clyde,
Who welcomed a pylon with pride.
“For two-fifty smackers,
I’ll live with the zappers—
And toast all my bread on the side!”
From Roman times to the 1970’s the Isle Thanet of Thanet was one of the most productive and fertile parts of Europe. The best land of all was built over with light polluting giant greenhouses and the marshland is being (not too) gradually encroached on and destroyed. Wind farms and solar panels are now being shown to be more destructive to global climate change and require considerable resources to decommission them and of course if rising sea level ever becomes a reality anything built on the marshland will be flooded and destroyed leaving the country with minimal power resources.
So all their promises in a feeble attempt to get you onside are just hogwash. Only the private network companies prosper at the expense of the environment it will destroy. Typical government twaddle as usual.