Jane Dodds Calls on Welsh Government to keep rural landscapes pylon free

Speaking to the Senedd on Tuesday, Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Member Jane Dodds urged the Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan to focus on underground cabling as an alternative to overhead pylons.

Jane Dodds MS also highlighted the work of ATP Cable Ploughing from Carmarthenshire, who operate a specialist machine called a “spiderplow” which allows cables to be installed underground with minimal impact on the environment.

The underground cables are also less vulnerable to damages caused by cases of extreme weather such as high winds.

The Pencader based firm is already laying over a kilometre of high voltage cable a day in sensitive areas across the UK.

Commenting on the need to commit towards underground cabling as an alternative to overhead pylons, Jane Dodds MS said that there was a “real chance for Wales to become world leaders in a technology that will revolutionise our energy grid.

Underground cabling provides us with a chance to save our iconic landscapes and beautiful nature habitats while also ensuring that rural communities stay connected with the rest of Wales.

But placing our power infrastructure underground isn’t just about appearance, it’s about resilience. And with more extreme weather events becoming the norm, having a more weather-proof grid has become increasingly more important.

Despite this, developers continue to default to pylons which are scarring vast areas of our countryside.

We cannot afford to sideline concerns around the impact on the environment and communities in favour of the perceived cheapest option.”

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