Campaigners call on Derbyshire council to join opposition to 60km pylon roll-out

Campaigners descended upon Derbyshire County Council’s County Hall to protest against National Grid plans to roll-out 60km of 50metre-high electricity pylons across the region’s landscape, farmland and rural communities.

The council’s former Conservative administration submitted an objection to National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade plans concerning where the infrastructure may go with worries for the region’s landscapes and communities.

However, Stop The Pylons Derbyshire held a demonstration on December 10th outside the council’s HQ before hoping to discuss the planned pylon roll-out with the current Reform UK-led council which has stated that it shares residents’ concerns.

Stop The Pylons Derbyshire Chairperson, Kath Hardman, claims the development represents an unacceptable industrialisation of Derbyshire’s countryside, serving national transmission needs but offering very little benefit to the communities it will severely impact.

Ms Hardman added: “Derbyshire residents have been ignored for too long. National Grid is pushing ahead with a route that destroys farms, harms food production, damages the environment, and devalues homes – all despite clear, viable alternatives.”

She argued that the protest sends a message that Derbyshire will not quietly accept being sacrificed for infrastructure that does very little to serve the county and campaigners urged the Reform UK-led council to stand firmly with concerned residents and reject the proposal.

Stop The Pylons Derbyshire claims the pylons would run for 60km and go through open countryside, farmland, and communities and that Derbyshire would suffer the impacts receiving very little, if any local energy benefit.

The campaigners argue there are viable alternatives including utilising the HS2 land corridor, yet they claim these have not been properly assessed.

They also claim the development will threaten dairy and arable farms, food-producing land, biodiversity, and rural livelihoods and the scale of the pylons will permanently alter Derbyshire’s iconic landscape.

Derbyshire County Council’s former leader, Barry Lewis, previously expressed his disappointment that other local authorities in the region had not formally expressed concerns over the potential impact of National Grid’s proposed 60km long corridor of electricity pylons across the county.

The former council leader asked National Grid to consider mitigations to lessen the impact of some of these pylons across Derbyshire.

National Grid’s proposed 60km long, 400 kilovolt overhead electricity line with 164ft tall pylons has been earmarked to run between Chesterfield, in north Derbyshire, and Willington, in South Derbyshire, including the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site.

Concerned parties including councils have been involved in a completed first consultation.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environment, Cllr Carol Wood, said: “We share residents’ concerns about the impact of erecting pylons in Derbyshire’s communities, particularly in rural areas, and have asked National Grid to consider the HS2 corridor to be considered as an alternative route for the scheme. 

“Derbyshire County Council raised serious objections to the scheme in September 2024, in responding to the Stage 1 public consultation. 

“The next public consultation on the project is anticipated in early 2026, when National Grid will publish its more detailed, preferred alignment for the pylons along with the Preliminary Environmental Information Report, which will identify the likely key environmental, social and economic impacts of the scheme. 

“We will have the opportunity to comment further on the scheme as part of this consultation and will continue to use all available avenues to press MPs, Ministers and the National Grid for what we see is the most sensible solution.”

The scheme’s potential route includes an area with Bolsover district’s Stainsby Common and Bolsover District Council will have had to consider the possible impact upon Hardwick Hall, Hardwick Old Hall, Hardwick Hall Register Park and Gardens, Bolsover Castle, a scheduled monument at Stainsby and the conservation areas located at Hardwick and Rowthorne, Stainsby, Astwith and Hardstoft.

National Grid Electricity Transmission has stated it is proposing to enhance the electricity network by building and operating the new overhead electricity line between a new 400kV substation at Chesterfield and the existing Willington substation in South Derbyshire to help meet the challenges of climate change by producing less harmful energy.   

A National Grid spokesperson has said the Chesterfield to Willington proposals will support the country’s energy transition and make sure the grid is ready to connect to more sources of low carbon electricity generated in Britain.   

National Grid argues the project will transport clean energy from the North of England to homes and businesses in the Midlands and play an important role in building a more secure and resilient future energy system.

The scale of the project means the final decision about whether it goes ahead or not does not lie with any local planning authorities.

The energy company will have to apply to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order and the Planning Inspectorate will make a recommendation to the relevant Secretary of State who makes the final decision.

It consulted on its early proposals in 2024 and it has since begun developing further proposals informed by ongoing survey and assessments and the next stage of consultations is expected to take place in 2026. 

Originally an application was expected to be submitted for consideration by 2026 and if it is approved construction could get underway by 2028 with an estimated, completed operational date in 2031.   

National Grid has stated it wants to work closely with communities and stakeholders as it considers value for money for bill payers, the impact on the community and environment, planning policy, licence obligations and net zero targets.   

Stop The Pylons Derbyshire’s protest coincided with two others at County Hall including a Derbyshire Climate Coalition demo against the council’s opposition to solar farms on agricultural land and Belper Together’s demo over the feared loss of community support beds at the Ada Belfield care home, in Belper.

National Grid was approached for an updated statement but had not responded by the time of publication.