Sir, As you report (“Way clear for pylons to blot the landscape”, April 2), we will need new infrastructure in the coming years to connect the new low-carbon power plants to the grid if we want to keep the lights on.
Funding and planning consents for this are considered by Ofgem and the Infrastructure Planning Commission respectively. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has not “tried to make it harder for planning inspectors to ban pylons”. Price control for new infrastructure is for Ofgem to decide and DECC has not blocked any parts of it.
The Government has listened very carefully to all the views on overhead lines and is considering how best to respond to them as it finalises the energy National Policy Statements.
Charles Hendry
Energy Minister