Overhead line lobby pledge

Countryside campaigners today vowed to lobby the Government to make sure a £13 million overhead electricity line near Oswestry is buried underground.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England fears the proposed 13-mile overhead line would ruin "an area of significant landscape value" adjacent to the Llangollen Canal.

Part of this was recently awarded world heritage site status.

Members today welcomed Shropshire Council's north area planning committee decision to object to Scottish Power's proposal to run the overhead line from Legacy substation near Wrexham to Oswestry's substation.

Councillors on Tuesday said they feared the overhead line would damage the landscape and called for the Government to order Scottish Power to bury the line in the ground.

Mike Bullen, chairman of the CPRE's Oswestry branch, said: "This is a very good decision which will help prevent an intrusive power line being built across some of Shropshire's most important landscapes.

"The line will be within sight of the newly declared Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage site and must be buried underground.

"We will be lobbying the Secretary of State and any public inquiry to ensure pylons are not erected across this attractive landscape."

Scottish Power says the new power line is vital to ensure an energy supply to Oswestry and Mid Wales in the future.

The company says if the line is not upgraded the current network will become inadequate and power supply will be lost to customers in Shropshire and Powys.

It wants to construct the line to help supply 80,000 homes and businesses in the Wrexham, Shropshire and Powys area.

The overhead line would run past Pont y Blew, Chirk, Glyn Morlas, St Martins and Hindford, near Gobowen.

The proposal has been submitted to the Department of Energy and Climate Change for a decision although it is likely a public inquiry will be held before a final decision is taken.

A local referendum was held in St Martins by campaigners against the proposed overhead line.

The public voted strongly against the line being built through the countryside surrounding Oswestry.