Representation by Graham Baxter
- Date submitted
- 7 July 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The timing of the project could not have come at a worse time for me, I am 62 and was considering retirement. For many years my wife and I have planned to sell our home and move back to Yorkshire, the house is on the market, but the proposed changes to the pylons is putting buyers off. Prospective purchasers do not want to live in a home that will be subject to such disruption, for what will be a 3 to 5 year time frame. The options are to consider selling at a much reduced price, but at my age this is not an option that I can afford to accept. We have grandchildren in the North of England and we have promised to help with child care, however, this will no longer be possible and other expensive alternative arrangements will have to be made. In short it looks as if my retirement will be delayed by around 5 years and this is time that I can-not get back. Day to day living will be intolerable whilst the work is being carried out. The house is in the middle of the planned construction site, the compound is situated next to the house and I understand that work will commence around 7am and finish at around 7pm and will be 7 days a week. Therefore this will be every day for 3 to 5 years. The noise, dirt and dust will make it impossible to use the garden. It will be impossible to dry washing resulting in increased expenditure using a tumble dryer. The damage to the property from dust and dirt will result in the house having to be repainted at an estimated cost of £12,000 (the property was last painted in 2022). The summer house in the garden will be unusable and unless this is covered it will be ruined by the works. The septic tank and soak away are in the area that is proposed to be used in our garden, a temporary structure will need to be provided and it is possible that a new septic tank will have to be relocated within the garden. This will be very disruptive to our day to day lives. I am also concerned that there will be damage caused by subsidence because of the use of such heavy plant and machinery. With regard to how much the project is costing I can not see why National Grid could not consider buying the property. The hose would be well situated being next to the compound and it would make such a difference to our lives that are going to be severely disrupted.