Barrow MP seeks urgent meeting with energy secretary of pylon fears

Barrow and Furness MP, John Woodcock has petitioned energy secretary Amber Rudd to meet him to discuss a project that will see 50m pylons mark the skyline of Furness and the Duddon Valley. 

Mr Woodcock has pledged his support to the Power Without Pylons initiative after stating he would like to see the power generated from Moorside connected to the National Grid by other means.

He said: "New nuclear is necessary and brings many jobs to the area but it should be connected using underground cabling rather than giant pylons. 

"We know National Grid is open to innovation because it has already agreed to dig a tunnel under Morecambe Bay so the cables avoid much of the Lake District. 

"But Furness and the Duddon Valley are beautiful too. They shouldn't always be made to take one for the team so the government should use the opportunity of the consultation for a full reset of the plan."

The pylons are part of the National Grid's plan to connect power generated from the Moorside power station to the grid. 

National Grid states that no hard and fast decisions have been made regarding the technology that will be used in the process and it is urging members of the public to attend consultation meetings later in the summer. 

Graham Pitts, chairman of Power without Pylons, is delighted with the support and hopes it will make a real impact on the final decision. 

He said: "I think it's a very good idea that the secretary of state gets involved. She is the one that will make the final decision so she needs to be aware early on about the feelings of the residents because this is the playground of the country. 

"There will only be a few decision makers on this: NuGen, National Grid and their commercial partners, but I don't think we will change their minds. 

"We also have to try the political route as they are the ones who are meant to have the views of the public at heart."

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