There was standing room only when Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman hosted a meeting at Croft Village Hall this afternoon (Friday) for residents to have their say about National Grid’s proposals for the Great Grid Upgrade across Lincolnshire.
Villagers were joined by No Pylons Lincolnshire campaigners and parish, town and county councillors from across the district, who are also adding their weight to the opposition as the official consultation progresses.
Villagers were joined by No Pylons Lincolnshire campaigners and parish, town and county councillors from across the district, who are also adding their weight to the opposition as the official consultation progresses.
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00:00 for this area in any way, shape or form.
00:03 And I do...
00:04 What will you be able to tell the government after today's meeting?
00:08 We heard loud and clear from this meeting that
00:12 pylons are not the right choice for this important project
00:16 and there are other ways of doing it.
00:18 I don't think there was a single person here in this room today
00:21 or in the other public meetings that I've held
00:23 that thinks that we should be pursuing this project
00:25 and that's what I'll be saying loud and clear to the government
00:28 in the coming days and weeks.
00:29 Roy Sanderson from Croft.
00:33 I've lived there all my life.
00:35 That's about 83 years.
00:37 And I've come here today to see what all these pylons are about.
00:41 We've had a wonderful meeting here with Matt Warman.
00:45 Lots of people all objecting to pylons
00:48 because we don't want our beautiful countryside spoiled by pylons
00:53 when there's an alternative.
00:55 The alternative would be to go from Grimsby
00:59 down the North Sea
01:01 and link up with the other people who are doing the outer dowsing
01:05 and take the cable through to Wapload.
01:08 And this would satisfy everyone.
01:11 We need the power.
01:13 I'll support wind turbines in the North Sea
01:16 and I hope that the government have enough common sense
01:20 to ensure that it's done in a correct way.
01:24 I'm Nicola Hughes.
01:26 I'm very pleased to be part of this group.
01:28 No pylons, sinking ship.
01:30 We are standing against the national grid,
01:36 the proposal to bring pylons 50 metres high
01:41 right across our grade A agricultural land, arable land.
01:47 And it's sacrilege.
01:49 We have farmers in tears.
01:51 It's not good enough.
01:53 We're not having it.
01:54 We've managed in five weeks to unify over 3,000 people
02:00 into the Facebook group and we are standing together.
02:04 We're standing together, sharing what we know
02:07 and making a support network for those who need us.
02:10 We've had to fill this form in which is really, really long-winded.
02:15 It's the most repetitive form that you could ever be asked to fill in
02:20 and there are people who wish to oppose
02:23 who don't feel confident to fill in 12 pages
02:29 and so the actual nature of the form is very, very difficult as well.
02:34 But we're doing our best to support people in this time of worry, fear, everything.
02:40 The whole lane is absolutely packed with cars, isn't it?
02:44 It is, trying to find somewhere to park.
02:46 It's probably the busiest it's been in a long time.
02:50 Does that give you hope that your voices will be loud enough
02:56 to make the government hear that you do not want this proposal?
03:00 100%.
03:02 The support, word of mouth, is stronger than the sword on this.
03:06 So we are working together.
03:08 We are speaking our words.
03:09 We are writing our words on Facebook.
03:12 Our voices are being heard.
03:14 We are heads together.
03:16 We've got a small committee.
03:18 We're learning from each other.
03:19 We had our first committee meeting last weekend
03:22 and we are responding to the needs of those people
03:26 who are around us and need our help.
03:28 We've still got a few more days, haven't we?
03:30 Not very long, until the 13th of March.
03:33 It isn't really very long at all.
03:34 So the message is, you know, give up that one hour, is it,
03:38 and fill that form in.
03:39 It's actually, think about both yourselves and your descendants
03:45 because this is a big undertaking and the fear, the imposition,
03:51 it's a big imposition by National Grid,
03:54 wanting to impose the pylons right across Lincolnshire
03:59 when they could take them in a subsea route
04:02 all the way around the sea.