Ceiriog Valley power line protesters ready for inquiry fight
A new electricity line running across the Ceiriog Valley on the Shropshire/Wales border should be re-routed or put underground, objectors have claimed.
Councillors in St Martins and Chirk have claimed the power line proposed between Wrexham and Oswestry by electricity company SP Manweb would have a huge impact on the landscape.
And officials at Wrexham Borough Council have claimed the 620-metre stretch of the line across the Ceiriog Valley should all be underground.
The campaigners are set to put their case forward during an 11-day public inquiry, which started yesterday.
Electricity company SP Manweb wants to build a third power line to secure electricity supplies to 85,000 customers in Shropshire and Mid Wales.
The company wants to build the 20 kilometre, 132 kilowat overhead line from Legacy to Oswestry, crossing the Ceiriog Valley and parts of the north Shropshire countryside.
At the start of the public inquiry into the application, Government inspector Emyr Jones was told that Shropshire Council had withdrawn its objections after the power company changed the design of the pole that it will use for the line.
Mr Michael Humphries QC, for SP Manweb, said since the application was made in 2009 the design of the overhead line supports had been reviewed with the company opting for the 'Trident' design rather than the older type heavy duty wood pole.
He said: "The Trident design is a single wooden pole which requires less steelwork to support the insulators and conductors and does not include an earthwire.
"The move to Trident has resulted in a reduction in the number of structures along the line, from 423 poles to 213 poles."
Referring to calls for the line to be put underground, Mr Humphries said that concerns about the potential adverse landscape and visual effects of an overhead line had to be balanced against the 'need for the proposed infrastruction, the availability and cost of alternative sites and the route and methods of installation'.
"The additional cost of any undergrounding is generally significantly more expensive than overhead lines and it may mean disturbing a swathe of ground up to 40 metres across which can be more damaging than an overhead line."
