Last night at a crowded public meeting organised by Yatton Against Pylons, Dr Liam Fox, MP for Woodspring vowed to seek a debate in the House of Commons over National Grid’s proposals to erect 37 miles of new 400kV overhead power lines through North Somerset’s countryside. Criticising the public consultation held by National Grid, and questioning the accountability of the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), Dr Fox however warned “he may be advised by the Speaker that you cannot have a debate in the House of Commons as no minister is accountable for decisions made by the IPC”.
When questioned on his views of the consultation carried out by National Grid, Dr Fox said that “although they may have followed the letter of the law, it is not within the spirit of the law” and on the route corridor options proposed by National Grid stated his view that “corridor two is there to be so outrageous that it would be rejected” and that “route two is a ploy” to force people to “democratically” choose National Grid’s preferred corridor one option without the company having to reasonably conisder underground or undersea alternatives. He then likened the choice being given to local communities as being akin to choosing between being ‘beheaded or hung, drawn and quartered!”
Commenting on the public response, Dr Fox said that to date he has received 1500 letters, by far the most number of letters on any one issue since the closure of the pits in the 1980′s. When asked how constituents should continue their campaign against National Grid’s plans, he encouraged residents to “keep up the bombardment” by writing letters to National Grid, and also to the Speaker of the House of Commons to push for the issue to be debated by ministers.
Also reported by Bristol Evening Post at: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Powerline-plan-sparks-outrage/article-1690350-detail/article.html
Video to follow…
