Shropshire Council leaders and county MPs meet with National Grid

The leader of Shropshire Council has declared that a meeting today (13 July 2011) with National Grid to discuss plans for connecting wind farms to the national electricity transmission network was “extremely useful” and has resulted in the company having a greater understanding of the concerns and anger of Shropshire residents.

Councillor Keith Barrow, MPs Daniel Kawczynski, Owen Paterson and Philip Dunne, and Shropshire Council’s Chief Executive Kim Ryley, met at the House of Commons with Nick Winser, who is responsible for National Grid’s Welsh wind farms project.

The meeting was organised by Owen Paterson.

In its response to National Grid’s recent consultation, Shropshire Council has said that cables connecting planned and newly-built wind farms in Mid Wales to the existing national electricity transmission network should not pass through Shropshire and, if they do, they should be carried underground.

Councillor Barrrow said:

“This was an extremely useful meeting that enabled us to express our concerns, and the concerns and anger of Shropshire people, about National Grid’s plans and how they may impact on the county.  I’m confident that National Grid now has a much better understanding of our concerns.  At the same time, Nick Winser was able to give us a greater understanding of the timescales involved in this project and some useful background information.

“We also put to him the idea of looking further north for the route that any cables will take, and he agreed to look into this.”