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‘Ignored and disregarded’ – villagers hit out at plans to build huge substations for offshore wind farms
Credit: Necton rallies against offshore wind farm substations | Tom Bristow | Eastern Daily Press | 15 December 2017 | www.edp24.co.uk ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
Energy firm Vattenfall wants to connect two planned offshore wind farms called Vanguard and Boreas to the National Grid in the Breckland village.
But opposition there is being led by a group called the Necton Substations Action Group. They are horrified that two new substations will be built on farmland on the edge of the village up to 25 metres high, covering around 18 acres each.
The existing substation already near the village for an offshore wind farm will more than treble in size from five acres to 17 acres.
To reach Necton from where the cables make landfall at Happisburgh, Vattenfall will need to dig a trench 60 kilometres long.
Jenny Smedley, from the group, said: “We are not against wind energy, but they are carving halfway across Norfolk just to get to the substations.”
She said 66pc of households in Necton had signed a petition against the development.
In the face of that opposition Vattenfall has moved its proposed site for the substations further away from the village.
The group has raised dozens of concerns about the project, including the consultation, potential noise from the substations and soil quality being destroyed by digging the trenches for the cable corridor.
A report written by consultants for Vattenfall about the impact on the landscape of the substations in Necton said: “Their scale and mass would appear at variance with the scale and character of the rural landscape.”
Necton Parish Council, meanwhile, said in its response to Vattenfall’s consultation that people felt “ignored and disregarded”.
“This council has received many complaints from residents specifically about the quality of consultation and their perception is that their contributions have not been considered,” they wrote.
But Ruari Lean, Vattenfall project manager, said they chose to connect to the National Grid at Necton because it was the best option for the environment and the cheapest.
Another option was to connect to the National Grid at Walpole near Wisbech but this would mean building a longer offshore cable.
Mr Lean added the firm’s “long term” goal was to improve the local environment.
A spokesman for Vattenfall said: “We worked closely with National Grid to identify a location that will minimise cost to the British consumer and minimise overall impacts.
“More distant connection locations were ruled out at an early stage in the process – these options would involve installing cables over much greater distances, which increases costs and environmental impacts.”
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