March on Cardiff in pylons protest
Tuesday 17th May 2011, 6:10PM BST.
CAMPAIGNERS FIGHTING plans which could see hundreds of pylons being built in Shropshire and Mid Wales will walk more than 100 miles to Cardiff to lobby the Welsh Assembly over the proposals.
Four walkers will leave Welshpool on Thursday and spend five days marching to the Welsh capital where they will meet up with hundreds of other campaigners to protest against the plans.
Nick Larder, from Manafon, near Welshpool, who will lead the march, said he hoped it would make more people aware of what was happening
He will be joined by Ifan Davies from Welshpool; Richard Jones from Welshpool; and Mrs Oili Hedman, from Llanbadarn Fynydd, near Newtown.
It comes days after Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies announced that hundreds of people would be descending on Cardiff on May 24 to get their voices heard on the proposals.
Mr Larder said: “I along with three others will be marching from Welshpool Town Hall to Cardiff on Thursday morning to protest against these proposals.
“We’re hoping to walk between 20 and 25 miles a day for five days and intend to arrive in Cardiff on May 24 to meet up with the buses for the big protest
“We are expecting a lot of people to come to see us off at 9am and would like to invite people to march the first few miles with us, we are also hoping that many others will join us for stints along the way.
“This is an issue that environmentalists, like myself, need to wake up to. It’s not just about pylons ruining a visual amenity, it is about the wrong solution to our energy needs in the wrong place, which will cause all kinds of other problems.
“I used to be in favour of windfarms until I heard about these plans here in Mid Wales and it was only a few weeks ago that I personally woke up to it all.
“I’m hoping this march will raise the profile of the issue a bit more.”
National Grid is looking to find a route for a 400,000-volt cable, by using 46m high pylons or by routing the wires underground.
Plans also involve building a substation at Abermule, near Newtown, and Cefn Coch, near Llanfair Caereinion.
By Anwen Evans
Most Commented
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
- The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff doesn't raise a smile
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Sorry I can’t be with you but will be supporting you all the way. Good luck.
Report abuse
Without pylons none of us would have an electric supply, that is unless we are off grid.
I agree pylons are not the most beautiful thing in the world but they do provide a service to us all.
Report abuse
I agree in principal (except that cables can also be placed underground), but in this case they are not needed by anyone, and they would be taking power away! They are only being proposed to take power away from a wind farm which is someone suggested should be built needlessly far away from the existing grid. Check the existing grid infrastructure (Google it) – this is as far away as possible from it!
Pylons also come in many sizes – these are the REALLY BIG ones, that you normally only see by motorways near major cities or industrial complexes (have a look at Stanlow refinery).
Report abuse
Yes they have to take the power away to the grid which will then be distributed all over the uk and back to our homes.
Its the same with the Nuclear power plants they have to have the pylons to take the power away.The ones in Wales are miles away from any sizable population in fact the Nuclear plant in Trawsfynnyd needs to be supplied with electric to de-commision it! how crazy is that?
Yes being by Stanlow refinery a lot of times, agree they are quite intimidating. Its a mega mess with pylons going in many directions from Trawsfynnyd as well, but they were built in vain, at least the wind will always be available to a greater or lesser extent.
Report abuse
Agreed, but why do something in the name of carbon reduction which emits such huge amounts of carbon in construction?
Why not site the turbines offshore or on any of the hundreds of windy hills already in reach of the existing grid?
Report abuse
I too was previously in favour of wind farms in general. But if they are going to achieve the objective of reducing our carbon output then they need to be built where there is no need to waste thousands of tons of high carbon output (high energy) materials in constructing a major new grid extension.
We need to conserve our raw materials and use them carefully, not squander them with careless planning. The existing grid is within easy reach of many potential turbine sites – who thought it would be a good idea to site these ones as far away from it as possible?!
Report abuse
In response to the insanity of the CAGW scare I have formed the Campaign to Repeal the Climate Change Act. Do visit our website http://www.repealtheact.co.uk
Mark Twain once commented that, “The difference between reality, and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible”. The Climategate scandal torpedoed the credibility Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and the IPCC. Fewer and fewer people believe in the climate scare and the virtual reality of the climate computer models, which failed to predict known past climates or the current slight cooling in the Global Mean Temperature. Clearly these climate models must not be used to inform policy making.
Public doubts on CAGW are reflected in a recent GALLUP poll that indicated 43% of the British public do not think global warming is a danger to them or their family. Our campaign aims to give a voice to these concerned citizens who feel they have been mislead by the politicians and the global warming alarm movement. Recently rebranded by the government as Climate Challenge, and the Green Deal stimulus package of Green Jobs Growth. Despite that fact that for every 1 green job created 3.7 jobs are being lost in the real economy. Green isn’t working Mr Cameron.
PLEASE ACT NOW!
SIGN THE PETITION http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43914.html
Report abuse