SVU Public meeting

14th September 2011

SVU 2011 Public Meetting Press Release

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

To Discuss National Grid's Proposals

to Further Blight our Landscape

with yet more Pylons and a Sub Station

PRESS RELEASE

The Stour Valley Underground Public Meeting

14th September, Wickham St Pauls, North Essex.

Standing Room only at Pylon Protest Meeting

An open public meeting inNorth Essexyesterday evening was counted a major success by both organisers and residents. Facing the prospect of a large swathe of beautiful ‘Constable’ and ‘Gainsborough’ countryside being blighted for generations by a new line of giant pylons, several organisations in the affected area have mounted effective questioning of National Grid’s plans. The meeting in the village of Wickham St Pauls near Sudbury last night was organised by Stour Valley Underground and also attended by Suffolk campaign group Bury not Blight, and was packed with concerned residents. There were several very high profile supporters present from local government, including GuyMcGreggor. from Suffolk County Council, David Finch from Essex County Council, and Tony Shelton from Braintree District Council, all three of whom gave impassioned speeches of support, urging local people to oppose the use of pylons and overground cables in the area. Presentations were made by David Holland and Richard Barnes of SVU, in which they argued the case for putting the whole of the new power corridor underground. The presentations which covered both environmentally preferable solutions and their clear affordability were followed by a lively Q & A session.

National Grid have recently announced their preferred route for the new line of pylons from Bramford near Ipswich to Twinstead nearSudbury. This will involve doubling the line of existing pylons, and the building of a very large transformer substation nearSudbury. Theirinformation releases indicate unwillingness to contemplate anything other than conventional overhead lines on 40m pylons.

David Holland said " This packed meeting clearly showed the strength of feeling in the local communities against further blighting of the landscape with electrical industry paraphernalia and how this is reflected by rock solid support from all levels of Local Government for our campaign."