Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will meet National Grid to discuss potential underground cabling alternatives for the proposed Grimsby to Walpole pylon plans.

The design and development of electricity transmission infrastructure is a matter for the developer, with the implications of those choices considered through the planning process. The government’s position, as set out in National Policy Statement for electricity networks infrastructure (NPS EN-5), is that overhead lines should be the strong starting presumption for electricity networks developments in general, except in nationally designated landscapes where undergrounding is the starting presumption.