Burnham-On-Sea’s new MP James Heappey has this week held talks with a top Minister about moving a controversial proposed power line between Hinkley Point and Avonmouth under the Bristol Channel.

Widely-opposed proposals from National Grid will currently see a 37-mile line of huge pylons running across the Somerset countryside close to Burnham-On-Sea.

Alternative options, such as constructing the power line underground or under the Bristol Channel, have long been preferred by campaign groups but have not featured in the National Grid plans.

In the first full week of Parliamentary business, James Heappey has discussed the issue with Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom in which he made the case for considering an undersea option.

He told Burnham-On-Sea.com he was encouraged by the minister’s response.

“Undersea lines elsewhere in the country were signed off in the last Parliament by the then Energy Secretary Ed Davey and so it baffles me that he would not agree to going under the sea here in Somerset,” he said.

“His removal is a real opportunity as we can now make the case afresh to Andrea and to new Energy Secretary Amber Rudd. I look forward to doing so.”

James is now seeking a further meeting alongside his colleagues in Bridgwater, Weston-Super-Mare and North Somerset, to fully articulate the benefits of taking the line under the sea.

Pictured: How the proposed huge new T-pylons would look and, a map showing the route of the pylons

 
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