Senior councillors have called on National Grid bosses to rethink the route of new high-voltage power lines – with proposals set to run an “industrial corridor of steel” through the historic landscape of the Isle.
The council leader and cabinet member for environment have called on the National Grid to change the route or bury the cables as part of a multi-million-pound grid upgrade.
The current preferred route would take the pylons – up to 50m high – through the Isle’s historic strip farming landscape, including up and over the highest parts of the area, making the pylons even more visible.
Cllr Rob Waltham, leader, North Lincolnshire Council, said: “We are committed to rightly have the Isle of Axholme protected as an area of outstanding natural beauty – these current proposals would be detrimental to that.
“It is an area with genuine landscape value and already recognised as an Area of Special Historic Landscape Interest. The plans currently favoured are not right for the Isle and they need to be reconsidered.”
The National Grid is currently consulting on its proposal to build the new high voltage electricity transmission line from Cottingham, north of Hull, through the East Riding and south through the Isle of Axholme into Nottinghamshire.
It is part of a wider infrastructure upgrade to modernise the grid and support the increasing generation of power which comes into the UK from offshore windfarms in the North Sea.
Cllr David Rose, cabinet member for environment, said: “More consideration should be given to the other proposal which avoids the Isle of Axholme and travels closer to existing infrastructure.
“If this route is preferred then underground cables should be used through the Isle. The pylons would be a jarring intrusion, marring the unspoiled charm of this beautiful green space with an industrial corridor of steel.”
