Town council to raise energy project concerns

Oswestry Town Council is to raise concerns regarding a proposed energy scheme that would involve several pylons being built.

The Vyyrnwy Frankton project, proposed by Green GEN Cymru, would take power from a substation near Cefn Coch in Powys 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. People recently had a chance to see the plans and speak to represenatives during six consultation events.

And now Oswestry Town Council has had its say after discussing the scheme at a meeting on Wednesday (March 12) evening.

“We should object to this as it will impact a lot of people who come to Oswestry,” said Councillor James Owen.

“Some of the farmers who come to the markets are from the area.

“There are alternatives – you can have it underground which will reduce the impact of it. You should look at a smaller scale.

“It will be more difficult, but this is a project that will be around for 50 years.

“We should object and ask them if they can consider putting the cables underground.”

Councillor Duncan Kerr added: “There is a huge amount of documentation behind this and I don’t think we can make our decision if in favour or against it without looking at it.

“Clearly, all of us would like for it to be underground, but the idea that all of it would be would be too expensive. I think we should note it, see how it develops and it’s one for the area committee because it has land that crosses it.”

Councillor Mike Isherwood, who chaired the meeting, said: “The proposal is that we raise concerns around the impact on the landscape and local residents, and the wider impact on the area in terms of visitors.

“We request that the company does all in its power to mitigate those concerns, especially in the most sensitive landscape areas.”

The proposal was unanimously agreed by councillors.