Important hurdle for major power plan as substation consultation is launched for Walpoles and West Walton areas

A major project to bring wind power from Scotland to Norfolk is facing an important hurdle over plans to build new substations in villages.

National Grid has launched a public consultation for its bid to construct the electrical facilities in the Walpoles.

The sites would connect with hundreds of miles of underground cables, which are due to be laid in the North Sea from eastern Scotland before making landfall in Lincolnshire and continuing to Norfolk.

Two converter stations and a substation are planned for West Walton and Walpole in a project that is estimated to cost £20m, named the Eastern Green Link 3 and 4.

National Grid say the scheme will “play an important role in building a more secure and resilient future energy system”, transferring power to homes and businesses from Scotland to the Midlands and south east.

However, there has been a backlash to a linked bid for new overhead pylons between Grimsby and the West Norfolk villages.

With pylons up to 50 metres high, the network would stretch from the Lincolnshire town to the parish of Walpole, which includes the villages of Walpole St Peter, Walpole St Andrew and Walpole Marsh.

The project has previously been opposed by James Wild, MP for North West Norfolk, who worries it would harm the countryside and farmland.

He has questioned why the Grimsby to Walpole cables will involve the use of pylons, whereas Eastern Green Link 3 and 4 will use underground cables.

National Grid has warned both projects will require the use of large areas of land in order to lay the cables, space for construction work and for building the new substations in West Norfolk.

People wishing to view and comment on the consultation can attend an event at Walpole Community Centre in Summer Close, Walpole St Andrew next Thursday, May 29 and documents can be viewed at Wisbech Library.

You can find out more on National Grid’s website at nationalgrid.com/egl3andegl4.