Pylon wars!

The first salvo of the ‘pylon wars’ was fired today by villagers furious at being in the path of a massive new power line that will stretch hundreds of miles down England’s east coast.

Officials want to install a vast new network of overhead lines snaking from the port town of Grimsby down to Tilbury in Essex as part of a plan dubbed ‘The Great Grid Upgrade’.

The proposals are being opposed by the Lincolnshire County Council along with its counterparts in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex; nevertheless, labour is in favour of the construction of more pylons to link to offshore wind farms, with Sir Keir Starmer as a supporter.

Villagers whose beloved local landscapes are set to be despoiled told MailOnline they felt ‘absolutely devastated’ and are already fighting back.

Broad’s Green in Essex, which is sandwiched between the idyllic villages of Little Waltham and Great Waltham, is one of the places that will eventually be covered by pylons.

Across the area, people have pinned protest signs to garden gates and fences, with some reading, ‘180 km of giant pylons. Say No!’

The landlord of The Walnut Tree in Broad’s Green, 81-year-old Peter Stokes, said of the pylons, ‘I do not want them. One, it’s going to spoil the countryside. They’ve got alternatives that are less destructive. They may cost a little bit more [the alternatives] but at the end of the day, people have got to live.

‘They do not want to be looking out of the window and see bloody great pylons.

‘People are buying these houses because it’s in the countryside and there was nothing spoiling the view. Now you are going to get a lot of pylons with the electric magnetic field that comes with it and that’s going to spread across the area here.

‘The value of properties has been going down. There’s a new house up for sale down the lane here and it’s been on the market five times and each time it’s been reaching closure, the sale has fallen through. People do their searches and find out about the pylons.’

At his speech at the Labour conference last month, Sir Keir described the construction of pylons near homes as one of the ‘hard choices’ that his government would have to take.

He later described underground power lines as too expensive and said: ‘If you want lower energy bills, we’re going to have to have pylons above the ground.’

But Lisa Lawrence, 29, and her partner Oliver Booker, 35, who began renting their semi-detached house in Great Waltham two months ago, are opposed to the plans.

Ms Lawrence, a nurse, said of the pylons, ‘I’m not a big fan. With the traditional look of the houses here, to have to drive along and see these pylons will take away from the heritage and look of the village.

‘Once they put the pylons up, you won’t be able to go back.’

Oliver, a marketing manager, said, ‘It would be better without the pylons. Surely there’s the technology to do it differently. They’re going to look horrendous.

‘It will take away from the awesome British old-school village that it is.’

In Great Waltham, contemporary and Victorian cottages coexist alongside thatched and timber-framed buildings from the 1930s, as well as council houses with well-kept lawns.

In any case, these power lines should go underground rather than overground to provide extra energy requirements, but Labour wants to destroy this green, pleasant land. If the government were to stop the UK’s massive daily population increase, there would be less need to provide so much power, but I’m guessing it’s mostly cost-based.

The drive for sustainable energy has ruined Scotland’s highlands. Power firms and absentee landowners are making millions, while the general public is ignored and is forced to put up with the severe inconvenience of unsightly pylons, gigantic dams, and community disturbance while this is happening.

Green energy doesn’t exist. There is nothing environmentally friendly about the entire process, from raw materials to manufacturing, installation, and, of course, electricity transmission.

Although there isn’t enough proof to say that living close to electrical pylons is harmful to your health, some research points to a potential connection.

There may be a higher chance of childhood leukaemia for residents who live close to electricity lines, according to some research. All the data combined nevertheless points to no impact.

One study found a 29 percent increase in lung cancer rates in people living downwind of pylons in the southwest of England. However, the National Radiological Protection Board considered this theory implausible and highly speculative.

Power lines produce electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which are a mixture of electric and magnetic forces. According to some experts, there may be a higher risk of cancer in those who have extensive EMF exposure. As for low-level EMF exposure near power lines, most experts think it’s safe.

As the UK government has developed EMF exposure restrictions to prevent any known effects on the body, it appears that exposure to EMFs below these levels has no documented health risk, and if power lines are more than 300 feet away, there should be no cause for concern.

There needs to be more physical evidence, and it needs to be open to the public, not hidden away. If it is proven, then it should all be banned along with cigarettes, processed foods, and alcohol.

So, our government can waste millions on foreign aid, millions to keep uninvited newcomers to our shores, but they won’t spend to help save our once beautiful country.

The thing is, worrying about the earth’s destruction in the future seems to be causing the earth’s destruction in the present, but that’s incompetent politicians for you!