The Yorkshire beach where £2.1bn cable carrying electricity from Scottish windfarms will come onshore
Landowners in East Yorkshire have complained of feeling "pressurised" over an undersea electricity “superhighway” from Scotland to England which will cross their land.
The £2.1bn link between Peterhead in north east Scotland and Drax in north Yorkshire, is expected to provide enough "green" electricity from Scottish offshore wind farms to power 2m homes in England.
The cables will run under the sea for 437km before making landfall at Fraisthorpe, a beach near Bridlington, which is popular with dog walkers. East Riding councillors are being recommended to approve National Grid’s plans next Thursday for the 67km stretch, which will cross Holderness and the River Hull before entering the Yorkshire Wolds.
It will go underneath the A1079 and A1034, as the route passes Market Weighton to the south. It will leave East Yorkshire via the River Ouse, towards its final destination next to Drax.
Spaldington parish council said agents had visited local properties last year and they’d received complaints that “the actions of said individuals could be considered inappropriate”. Clerk Simon Baxter said: "The local community felt they were pressurised and the representatives were aggressive and quite intimidating. What developers may think is a minor issue to them can have a major impact on the local community".
Two dozen objections have been lodged with East Riding Council, mainly from the farming community, with worries including the impact on soil health from construction traffic and heavy machinery.
There were also concerns that the two cables will be put in at a depth of 0.9 metres, which could affect day to day cultivation.
The National Farmers Union has urged councillors not to grant planning permission before voluntary agreements are in place. The NFU felt National Grid had been “bullish” in earlier negotiations. Senior rural surveyor for the NFU Louise Staples said they accepted the need to connect the electricity cable, but added: “We are objecting at the moment because we don’t have some of the practical details such as how soil and field drainage will be reinstated.
"Also some of the technical details in the heads of terms still haven’t been finalised.”
The cable, will run to a proposed new converter station adjacent to Drax, which will convert the direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC), before being fed to the grid via an existing sub station.
The council report said agreements between the developer and landowners were a private matter and were not a “material” planning consideration.
A National Grid spokesperson said: “Our proposals in Yorkshire will enable clean electricity to power homes and businesses in the region and across Great Britain, as well as in the long term helping to reduce energy bills and boost progress towards net zero.”
They understood the plans could cause concern and they’d given “careful consideration” to feedback during “extensive” public consultation and engagement activities.
He added: “We await the planning decision, and in the meantime we welcome ongoing engagement with the local community.”