Stop the Pylons AND SUBSTATIONS (Norwich to Tilbury /East An
Public meeting Friday 15 September 7pm Ardleigh Village Hall
Public Information Event for residents of Ardleigh and Little Bromley
We would like to make you aware of a Public Information Event to be held on Friday 15th September at Ardleigh Village Hall - 18:30 for 19:00 start. This Event has been organised to share the latest on National Grid, North Falls, Five Estuaries and Tarchon energy infrastructure proposals for Little Bromley and Ardleigh. We are expecting updates from Tendring District Council and Essex County Council as well as from Sir Bernard Jenkin MP and Rosie Pearson from Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk Pylons. There will also be a Question and Answer session. You will need to book a place at the meeting and submit any questions in advance — see details below. Please attend if you can. You can book your place and submit a question using this link. or click here to join live event
Tips for responding to National Grid summer 2023 consultation
National Grid consultation live until 21 August 2023 with potentially devastating effects on Ardleigh.
See Home - Pylons East Anglia for updates and suggested responses. Our Parish Council continues to oppose this damaging project. A copy of our draft response can be downloaded below.
Suggestions on how to respond to National Grid’s consultation
● Either use National Grid’s consultation form: https://norwich-tilbury.participatr.io/ Or send an email to contact@n-t.nationalgrid.com (include your name, address and postcode)
● Please start every email or every box in the online survey with the following or similar:
“There is no need for this destructive project which will have a devastating impact on Ardleigh and the surrounding area. We want an integrated offshore grid in the North Sea as it has been shown by National Grid ESO to save £2bn and to reduce overall infrastructure by 50%. We support and endorse the submission of the Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons Action group.”
Our goal is to prove that the project brings more harm than benefit. That sounds easy, but the Planning Inspector will have to balance national benefit with local harm. Some local harm includes;
- Landscape impact Ardleigh village will be circled on three sides by cabling and will be the site of the NG substation (plus several additional windfarm substations close by). Pylons will run very close to the centre of the village and across the flat landscape adjacent to the AONB. Add examples of views you would lose, and the loss of landscape quality, scenic quality, relative tranquillity etc.
- Heritage Impact Ours is mediaeval village with many listed buildings and a conservation area from which several pylons would be visible.
- Biodiversity impact The planned pylon route goes across a fishing lake earmarked as a Protected Green Space in the Ardleigh Neighbourhood Plan and crosses part of Ardleigh Reservoir. There would be a pylon within the new Country Park (off Wick Lane) once minerals extraction is complete. Think about impact on both landscape and biodiversity in our area.
- Impact on local businesses including farms Many productive arable fields will be lost or damaged for this project at a time when food security is vital. Will your business be affected? Say how.
- Archaeology Ardleigh has had many archaeological finds, there are crop circles and an ancient monument close to the site of the NG substation. The proposed underground section from the substation skirts the edge of this ancient monument and will inevitably dig and disturb ground in an historically significant area.
Updates and sources of information
13 August Campaign Group walk through Ardleigh. meet at Skylark, Prettyfields Vineyard, Dead Lane, Ardleigh CO7 7PF from 10am for 10.30 start.
9 August 2023. Our Parish Council has distributed a newsletter with updates on the Pylons and Substations campaign and other local news. A copy can be downloaded below.
9 August update from National Grid 'National Grid are offering online webinar events, the dates, times and registration links are as follows:
Saturday 12 August – 10-11am
Thursday 17 August – 10-11am
If you have not already provided feedback, please note that our consultation closes at midnight on Monday 21 August.
You can submit your comments digitally using our online feedback form. You can also download and print a copy of our feedback form here.'
14 July Our Parish Council's response to the North Falls statutory consultation is below.
12 May Our Parish Council's response to the Five Estuaries consultation has been submitted and is available to download below.
Update May 2023
FIVE ESTUARIES CONSULTATION - IT MATTERS TO ALL OF US!
"Update below from the regional campaign group- our Parish Council will be responding along the lines below and we would encourage all residents to do the same.
Wind farms ‘Five Estuaries’ and ‘North Falls’ have both been told by National Grid to connect into East Anglia Green PYLONS. We have met with both and they would happily connect offshore instead.
Much of National Grid's justification for the pylons is these two wind farms. We need them to connect offshore and we know that National Grid was looking at advanced offshore coordination scenarios last spring.
Five Estuaries is running its second consultation, until 12 May.
Please copy & paste the text below and send an email:
To:
fiveestuaries@rwe.com
cc. eastangliagreen@nationalgrid.com;
markus.krebber@rwe.com (CEO);
bernard.jenkin.mp@parliament.uk
'Dear Sir
I support in general terms your proposals to generate green electricity through offshore wind farms.
However, I object in the strongest terms to the unnecessary connection onshore. This will result in tunnelling beneath the shoreline, trenching to place underground cables through Tendring, and a sub-station near to Ardleigh where I live and very near to the Dedham Vale AONB.
This damaging onshore connection is unnecessary because both Five Estuaries and sister project North Falls could connect offshore. National Grid ESO has already carried out advanced scenario testing of offshore coordination options.
We know that National Grid has offered this connection point to you but we urge you to do the right thing for the environment and communities and to reject National Grid's unacceptable offer. You will be aware that the connection offered is deeply damaging, being in the centre of a 180km pylon route, and adjacent to the AONB where the pylons create a ring of steel around Ardleigh. This project is many years from a planning permission, if it succeeds at all.
Please do the right thing by RWE's own responsibility and sustainability goals: "RWE is helping to shape the sustainable future of the world’s power supply. As part of society and a key player in the worldwide energy market, we are aware of the responsibility that goes with our role. We exercise that responsibility every day by applying clear principles to our corporate and social actions. Every single person at RWE – from Executive Board members and managers to colleagues and line staff – contributes by acting responsibly towards others and the environment. For RWE, taking responsibility means taking socially relevant issues into consideration in our corporate decision-making processes, keeping an eye on the consequences of our actions beyond our own area of responsibility and considering corporate activities from an ecological, social and ethical standpoint as well as from a business perspective. Corporate Responsibility is part of the contribution RWE makes to sustainable development and responsible business management. Everything from environmental protection and climate-change mitigation, social concerns and human rights through to responsible corporate governance is taken into account – as RWE does justice to its responsibility in every sense."
We urge you put these good words into practice and to work with Government through its current coordination schemes to connect offshore instead.
Yours faithfully'
with thanks, as ever, from Rosie Pearson and the Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons team
www.pylonseastanglia.co.uk"
Update 5 December. Our Parish Council has submitted comments to the Planning Inspectorate on National Grid's request for a scoping opinion on the Environmental Statement relating to the proposed development (East Anglia GREEN). A copy is available in the downloads below.
Update 21 September
Another Ardleigh Planning application will be considered at a Tendring Planning Committee next week 27 September. This is the proposed battery storage unit which will be situated very close to the location which National Grid have in mind for their huge substations as part of the controversial East Anglia GREEN project.
We asked for this to be considered by the Planning Committee because of the wider public interest and concerns. The papers are here https://tdcdemocracy.tendringdc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments... The officer is recommending approval.
Prior to the meeting there will be a site visit (10:45am-10:55am Tuesday 27 September) we can attend but cannot 'take part in any discussion thereat unless specifically invited to do so by the Chairman of the Planning Committee.' Please note that the times shown are approximate and may vary by as much as half an hour either way.
Residents may wish to attend either the planning committee or site visit. Speakers are agreed in advance, if you might be interested in speaking please read the paper and liaise with TDC direct.
Update 12 August
Our Parish Council has submitted its response to the Five Estuaries offshore Windfarm consultation Five Estuaries – Offshore wind farm. A copy can be downloaded below.
Update 4 July
The National Grid consultation closed on 16 June and Essex County Council and Tendring District Council, among many others, have strongly objected to the proposals calling for a strategic off-shore grid. Our own Parish Council’s response and other links to local and regional information is below . A key part of this proposal is a new National Grid substation in Tendring to connect to the new pylons. If the proposals go ahead, Ardleigh would be uniquely and profoundly affected due to a double line of pylons cutting through the Parish and at least one new substation. Many other Parishes would also be directly affected.
Last week we received messages from the two windfarm providers. We assume that your Council may also have been contacted direct?
• Five Estuaries have launched their consultation on the siting of their proposed underground cabling and new substation see www.fiveestuariesconsultation.co.uk. There are two public exhibitions (in Frinton, Weds 13 July, and Lawford, Thurs 14 July). Residents have been sent leaflets and they have offered to meet with Parish Councils (we will be taking up this offer).
• North Falls have contacted us regarding their own imminent consultation. Despite calls for co-ordination, we gather that they will be consulting separately on anther substation and underground cabling route, doubling the disruption and potential impact.
Tendring Show- Saturday 9 July Working with the Ardleigh Matters Group http://www.ardleighmatters.org.uk/, Ardleigh Parish Councillors will be staffing a stand on show day informing and answering questions, as well as distributing 5000 leaflets about the local impact to the crowd. Leaflets will be available from the stand. Please also come along to speak to us to find out more.
Update 16 June 2022. Our Parish Council response to the consultation has been submitted to National Grid and can be downloaded below.
There is lots of information available about the proposed plans to site a huge network of pylons and a series of new substations in the parish- see Ardleigh Matters – Ardleigh Matters Community Website- http://www.ardleighmatters.org.uk/. The proposed plans will have a big impact on the parish and its village & hamlets, result in the damage & loss of prime agricultural land and ecological habitats, and there is some evidence of health impacts too
Upgrading the grid and expanding green energy are both crucial to combatting the climate crisis - but a national & international problem needs a national & international solution, not a bodged short term fix We will be sharing resources here and via the Ardleigh Matters community pages to help you #makeanoise and get National Grid to deliver a national solution!
There is also a regional group https://www.pylonseastanglia.co.uk/ which is preparing a detailed response to the consultation which is expected to be referenced in our Parish Council's objection (to be discussed at the 13 June Parish Council meeting).
What you can do
We had until 16 June 2022 to make your views known to National Grid - and here's how we did it:
1. The Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons action group survey https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBddWOeGvMMC84GtLJcmviskqdqXNq_0Z72QYwp4wcrkhSag/viewform - before 14 June
2. The National Grid consultation - before 16 June https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-transmission/network-and-infrastructure/infrastructure-projects/east-anglia-green
3. The petition is still live - please sign and share.
4. Write to your MP and the secretary of state (example of letter and email addresses on this page) Attended the National Grid Public Exhibition Saturday 28 May at Lawford Venture Centre, 10-4pm Follow Ardleigh Matters and Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons on Facebook for more info
Ardleigh-specific meetings
Ardleigh-specific meetings - thanks to those who attended
Following on from the National Grid Lawford Exhibition, the purpose of these meetings was to provide more information to residents about the impact that the Pylons, Substations and undergrounding of cables will really have on the Parish of Ardleigh, surrounding Parishes and indeed the whole of the Norfolk ,Suffolk and Essex landscapes and way of life. We also wanted to highlight the alternatives, give guidance on how to write to appropriate people encourage everyone to sign the petition and give tips on completing the NG feedback form.
Zoom meeting (for those unable to attend the drop in) 7.30 Wednesday 1 June 2022
Slides in downloads below.