National Grid wants to build a new 90km high voltage line to carry energy generated by new windfarms off Yorkshire, from Creyke Beck, near Cottingham, in East Yorkshire, to High Marnham in Nottinghamshire.

Creyke Beck can currently handle 7GW, but this is expected to reach 13GW by 2030 and new infrastructure is needed, including a new substation and the 400,000 volt line.

A consultation event will be held in Cottingham next Saturday (July 8) - the same day residents of the Cotswold town of Winchcombe can hear about plans to take down a 7km stretch of overhead line and 18 pylons to "reinvigorate" the area's "natural beauty".

National Grid says the proposed corridor for the line runs close to an existing overhead power line "for much of the route". The company, which owns and operates the transmission network across England and Wales, has dubbed it part of its "Great Grid Upgrade" "moving more clean energy from where it’s generated to where it’s needed".

It is estimated putting a cable underground could cost £3.7bn - eight times more than an overhead line (£454m). However Baroness McIntosh of Pickering said as a general principle it made sense to consume energy "as close to where we produce it as possible".

Small nuclear reactors could be an alternative, she said, adding: "I think we are becoming overly dependent on onshore and offshore wind. I don't think it has been explained to the public that they are going to have these unsightly, very vulnerable pylons for miles."

The peer, who campaigned against pylons in North Yorkshire when she was an MP, said it was "completely nonsensical" to transport electricity long distances, given the large amount of energy lost in transmission and distribution.

She has previously called on Ministers to ensure that as little of the network is above ground as possible, following storms last February which left tens of thousands of homes without power. However National Grid said energy loss was a "function of physics" happening in every electrical circuit from light bulbs to TVs.

Across a high voltage network transmission losses are around two per cent to 2.5 per cent. Buried cables lose less than an overhead system.

Ofgem has provided £500m funding to remove overhead lines in English and Welsh areas of outstanding natural beauty and in National Parks including in the Peak District.

The locations are chosen by other bodies such as the Ramblers and CPRE.

Project director Rachel Tullis said the infrastructure would allow "clean electricity to power homes and businesses across the Midlands and to the whole country, boosting our home-grown energy security and progress towards net zero".

People are encouraged to share their views as part of the consultation which runs until July 27.

Creyke Beck: Tory peer objects to 'unisghtly' plan to build 90km of pylons across Yorkshire