NATIONAL Grid plans to build a 400kv substation in Mid Wales have been branded as madness by Montgomeryshire’s MP, Glyn Davies.
Mr Davies has likened the proposals to one of the lowest points of Welsh and English relations in the 20th century – the flooding of Tryweryn Valley in the 1960s.
Last week National Grid unveiled plans to create a 20-acre substation to collect electricity generated by windfarms at either Abermule or Cefn Coch. The company has also announced several options for the power line route to take the electricity out of Mid Wales.
On his blog Mr Davies branded the proposal as ‘madness’ and urged the public to ‘fight the plans to the bitter end’.
He said: “The plan is that the consultation period will end in early summer (June-ish) and the cruel, fateful axe will fall September-ish – announcing which valley in what is the most beautiful landscape of the UK will be desecrated forever.
“My fingers twitch with barely controlled anger as I type these words.
“Hope does remain. It’s all madness of course – the same sort of unseeing madness which created the much lauded tower blocks and coniferous forests of the 1960s.
“Let’s hope that this blindness can be cured.”
Mr Davies also urged campaigners in Cefn Coch and Abermule to avoid in-fighting and work together to oppose the plans.
He said: “There were voices today which see the consultation as a battle between Abermule and Cefn Coch. This must not happen.
“We are in this together. When I’m asked where the substation should go, my answer is nowhere. The whole thing is completely mad.
“We must fight it to the bitter end, hoping that common sense will prevail. Abermule is a thriving community. The Vyrnwy Valley is one of the most beautiful in Britain. For the people of Montgomeryshire, it is our ‘Tryweryn’.
“If this abomination goes ahead, the National Assembly for Wales will never be forgiven.”