The electricity company has launched consultations on two pylon lines running through the county.
National Grid has launched a second round of consultation on their proposed Grimsby to Walpole pylon route, and an initial consultation on another route through the south of Lincolnshire from Weston Marsh in South Holland to East Leicestershire.
Cllr Sean Matthews, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said:
“We need to make National Grid listen to Lincolnshire. If you live in this area, work here or love to visit it, you’ll understand the enormous scar these pylons would leave on our landscape.
“The council is putting together its own response to the consultation, and I know that residents are hugely against these plans from speaking to people on the doorstep, and the survey that the council did last year. So I urge everyone to complete the National Grid surveys, visit an information event and make their voice heard.
“I’ll be at some of these events myself to speak to residents and to National Grid, to make sure they get the message loud and clear: leave Lincolnshire alone.
“If National Grid continue to push ahead with these ridiculous plans and completely ignore the massive public opposition, I’ll stand in front of the bulldozers if I have to.”
The proposed Grimsby to Walpole route would see hundreds of pylons and overhead cables running 87 miles across the east of Lincolnshire, between the Lincolnshire Wolds national landscape and the natural coast and then on to Walpole, just over the border in Norfolk. The plans also include up to six new substations along the route.
The second pylon route would run 37 miles from Weston Marsh, just outside Spalding, to just north of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. Around 80 per cent of the proposed route falls within Lincolnshire, and includes two new substations.
The company are hosting public information events in Lincolnshire for these proposals at:
- Burgh le Marsh Village Hall on Wednesday 18 June from 2pm to 7pm
- London Road Pavilion, Louth on Friday 20 June from 1pm to 7pm
- Corby Glen Village Hall (Ron Dawson Memorial Hall) on Saturday 21 June from 2pm to 7pm
- Holton-le-Clay Village Hall on Tuesday 24 June from 1pm to 7pm
- Alvingham Village Community Hall on Wednesday 25 June from 1pm to 7pm
- Surfleet Village Hall on Thursday 26 June from 11am to 5pm
- Huttoft Village Hall on Friday 27 June from 1pm to 7pm
- Morton Village Hall on Saturday 28 June from 11am to 4pm
- Alford Corn Exchange on Saturday 28 June from 11am to 4pm
- Eastville, Midville, and New Leake Village Hall on Wednesday 2 July from 1pm to 7pm
- South Witham Village Hall on Friday 4 July from 1pm to 7pm
- Hubberts Bridge Community Centre on Tuesday 8 July from 1pm to 7pm
- Weston Village Hall on Thursday 10 July from 1pm to 7pm
Cllr Danny Brookes, the county’s executive member for environment, added:
“These plans are just about moving electricity over the county – it’s not actually going to support our homes and our businesses. And they’ll have a snowball effect; building these enormous substations will just attract more developers looking to cover the county in solar parks or wind farms.
“I understand that overhead cables and pylons are National Grid’s first choice – they claim they’re cheaper – but elsewhere they’re putting cables out at sea, so clearly it’s not their only option. Why isn’t this an option for Lincolnshire?
“For the Grimsby to Walpole route, National Grid claims to have taken feedback on board from their first round of consultation. From what I can see, this is mostly just making a very small number of pylons a little lower.
“That’s not listening. That’s not what residents want. Continue putting these cables out at sea or bury them under the ground, and stop threatening our tourism industry, our natural environment and the future of our county.”
Both consultations are running from 11 June until 6 August 2025. They are available to view on the National Grid website: