Hundreds of miles of overhead cables and pylons are expected to be fast-tracked through the planning system despite local opposition, so Britain can meet its net zero targets.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is devising sweeping planning reforms that industry leaders say are needed for the UK to hit milestones such as eliminating fossil fuel generation by 2035.
Under the plans, ministers would issue formal guidelines – known as a National Policy Statement – later this year, effectively mandating planning inspectors to approve projects needed to help the UK to meet its targets.
This would be followed by a separate document setting out specific schemes, including electricity transmission cables, pylons and wind farms, that form part of the Government’s net zero plans – in order to put the “full weight of planning law” behind each of the specific proposals.
John Armitt, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, which advises the Government, suggested plans would always draw some local opposition.
But he added: “You can’t really accept that those local concerns are going to prevent the major transitions that this country has got to make over the next 20 years in dealing with net zero, dealing with climate change, and fundamentally in terms of the transmission lines, electrifying our country in a way that it’s not relied on electricity to such a large degree in the past.”
He added that currently, “if there are local communities that feel that the balance hasn’t been structured correctly between where it’s landing and how it impacts their community, then they can take a secretary of state to judicial review”. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/pylons-forced-on-public…/
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