Representation by David Trower
- Date submitted
- 10 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The B.E.I.S. strategy for onshore installations for North Sea wind power in East Anglia. This is exactly what we are complaining about – there is no strategy! Nearly 10 years ago the Dutch agreed a strategy that would keep the necessary substations for offshore wind power away from land by investing in an Offshore Ring Main. In the UK there is no such Government strategy to protect our countryside. The successful bidders for an offshore wind farm licence in the UK simply agree a site for a substation with National Grid and ride roughshod over the local population. Their “consultations” have been a bad joke! There is a similar problem in Norfolk and George Freeman has been battling to get the BEIS to call a moratorium on current substation proposals and develop an offshore ring main as a matter of urgency. In Friston , a small village of around 150 houses, we are facing an immediate development covering 83 acres with buildings and structures between 18 and 25 meters high. There would almost certainly be further substations on the site for National Grid and extensive work on cabling and construction would last for up to 10 years or more. This would have a devastating effect on the local population, farmers and the tourist industry over a large area of Suffolk . None of this is taken into account by National Grid or the power companies. There are another six similar projects in Suffolk in the process of being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate as well as further North Sea licences to be sold which will result in even more onshore substations being required. This is a classic case where we need top level technical people to force BEIS and National Grid to urgently design and build an offshore ring main and avoid the destruction of large parts of Suffolk and Norfolk. If the Dutch can do it so should the UK!. David Trower