Proposed pylon corridor will “ruin my business”
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter
A caravan park owner fears for his business due to a major scheme that could see electric power lines built just yards away.
The Vyrnwy Frankton project, proposed by Green GEN Cymru, would take power from a substation near Cefn Coch to the existing network near Lower Frankton, in Shropshire.
The firm says it is needed to add capacity to the local network, and address the climate emergency by providing the necessary infrastructure to connect green energy to the grid.
To facilitate the connection request, National Grid Electricity Transmission will develop its own proposals for a 400kV substation in the Lower Frankton area, which will connect to the new 132kV switching station.
The route would be around 45km long and include 171 pylons, with an average height of 28.5 metres.
Residents have had a chance to see the plans and to meet representatives during six consultation events, with one, held in Llantsantffraid which is a hotspot for caravan tourism.
One of those caravan parks is Bryn Vyrnwy, which has been created at a family-run farm over the last 35 years. However, Ed Williams, who took over the running and maintenance of the park from his parents, Doug and Jan, is worried about what impact the scheme will have.
“It’s going to my ruin my business,” said Mr Williams. “I’ve just started developing there, and it will be 300m away from a pylon.
“Those parks double the population of Llansantffraid. They say they’ve considered tourism, but I don’t think they have at all.”
“It can be desperate for them. I don’t know how you can formulate a line without having a consultation with them whatsoever,” he said.
“I think this is a pre-determined route now because they haven’t consulted. All of a sudden we’re being asked to consult on a route.”
Meanwhile, Shaun and Sarah Sheppard, a couple who live in Crickheath, near Oswestry, are also concerned.
“There is a huge amount of cost that will go into it, and it’s an Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty,” said Mr Sheppard.
“If you take the linear element out, it’s a destruction of the natural environment. They will cut down thousands of trees. There are hundreds of miles of hedgerow on this route.
“It’s not cast in stone, so we have no assurance where it’s going to be. We’re old now and would like to downsize. It will impact property prices.”
Mrs Sheppard added: “What has been suggested is National Grid are proposing this line is dug through Wales, coming through Cefn Coch.
“But that’s probably not going to be built before 2030. When that’s connected, is it going to make this line redundant.”
Owen Jones, external affairs manager at Green GEN Cymru, said: “We were here at the first stage in October 2023, we took feedback and changes were made to the route.
“Now we’ve come out again, but this time, we’ve gone from a 200metre wide corridor to potential pylon locations which have given residents a lot more certainty.
“What we want is people coming and saying, ‘these two or three pylons are my main concern, can they be moved slightly?’.
“And if a landowner is coming in and saying, ‘I graze on this field and I plough on this one, I would rather it in the grazing field’.
“There is a lot of time for discussions, this is a very complicated planning application. I compliment people’s pragmatism.
“They’re coming into these halls and engaging positively with the process. This is large infrastructure going into pylons in parts of the country that has little infrastructure. Some people are nervous, but all we encourage is to give that feedback, because if we don’t know your concerns, we can’t do anything about it.”
A planning application is set to be submitted next year. If approved, construction will start in 2027, which will take two years to complete.
Feedback can be provided up to April 16. More information about the project can be found at www.greengenvyrnwyfrankton.com
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