Last day to have a say on controversial Derbyshire giant pylon powerline roll-out
The public consultation on the 37-mile long power line between Chesterfield and Willington is closing today.
Today (Tuesday, April 28) is the last day when residents can respond to the second stage of the public consultation on the National Grid’s Chesterfield to Willington electricity transmission project.
The project was first announced in 2024 and proposed to build a number of 50-metre-tall pylons across Derbyshire countryside – with the power line proposed to run through Amber Valley, Clay Cross, Alfreton, Ripley, Denby and Smalley.
National Grid said that ‘local feedback’ and ‘further technical and environmental assessment’ were taken into consideration before the launch of the second stage of the consultation on Tuesday, March 3, which saw a new route for the high voltage power line proposed.
The new route, located to the east of the previously proposed energy line, avoids locations such as the River Amber Valley, Ogston Reservoir and nearby listed buildings including Ogston Hall.
The interactive map shared by National Grid divides the route into six sections including Chesterfield to Tibshelf, Tibshelf to Ripley, Ripley to Morley, Morley to Ockbrook, Ockbrook to Aston-on-Trent and Aston-on-Trent to Willington.
Stop The Pylons Derbyshire, an organisation launched in response to the National Grid’s project, did not welcome the proposed changes and has continued to campaign for the project to be cancelled.
Kath Hardman, the group’s chair, said that the development represented an “unacceptable industrialisation” of Derbyshire’s countryside, offering “very little benefit to the communities it will severely impact”.
She further argued that if the project goes ahead, it will destroy farms, harm food production, damage the environment, and devalues home in the area.
National Grid said the Chesterfield to Willington electricity transmission project was necessary to update the existing network in the region, which was largely built in the1960s to connect coal and nuclear power stations and was not designed for today’s power sources or future demand.
The energy provider said the company was keen to hear from local residents to understand their views on the project.
The consultation on the new route is open until 11.59 pm today (Tuesday, April 28) and anyone who wishes to take part in the consultation can do so via a dedicated online form.