'Unreal' stress for residents over pylons plan
BBCPeople living near a possible site for a huge new substation and pylons say it would damage businesses and the environment.
It is thought the proposed new site in north Cumbria would be larger than any existing UK substation.
Local resident Sophie Wright said she was worried about the impact on wildlife, and feared the area would "lose its character".
National Grid said the project was needed to meet rising energy demand and help with the transition to renewable energy, adding it welcomed residents' feedback.
It said the details of the scheme, including the size of the substation, were yet to be finalised.
The Cross Border Connection project aims to improve electricity flows between Scotland and England and deliver "clean, home-grown energy to power up to six million homes", according to National Grid.
Farmer Neil Plant is among landowners in the Blackford area, north of Carlisle, to receive letters from National Grid asking to survey their land.
He said: "We use every inch of our ground and to lose any of it would jeopardise the business in total, probably shut us down. The stress is just unreal."
Fellow local resident Ms Wright said she was worried about the impact on local peatland and wildlife.
She said: "We'll have this huge 71-acre (29-hectare) substation.
"We'll get more industry who want to be sited next to a substation, more road infrastructure and this area will completely lose its character."
The Blackford area is one of two possible locations for the substation, the other being to the south of Carlisle near Cumwhinton.
Angela Hosford, National Grid's project director, said the company welcomed and took seriously every piece of feedback.
"We'll be looking at that closely and re-engaging with those with the communities as we progress this project," she said.
The work is part of a much wider series of upgrades to the electricity network costing tens of billions of pounds, funded by extra money on energy bills.
National Grid says the improvements are necessary because electricity demand is expected to rise by 40% in the next 10 years.
Energy regulators say the upgrades will make the grid more efficient and connect to cheaper renewable energy sources, offsetting much of the cost for bill payers.
Alternative methods?
Despite the frequent controversy around pylons, government planning policy favours them over underground cables in most places.
Tom Adams, who chairs the Carlisle and District Green Party, said the policy should be reviewed to examine whether new technologies could make underground lines more viable.
He said companies often had a "business-as-usual approach" which favoured existing methods.
But energy minister Michael Shanks said underground cables were "four or five times more expensive".
He added there were questions over whether they were "worse for the environment" in some circumstances, because land might need to be excavated for repair work.
