A PUBLIC meeting on the controversy caused by a proposal for a 31-mile line of electricity pylons standing at 27 metres tall was packed out with opposition campaigners.

The meeting, called over Bute Energy and Green Gen’s plan for the line of electricity pylons that will pass through north Shropshire and into Mid Wales, was held at Pant Village Hall, between Oswestry and Welshpool.

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan chaired the meeting which heard from a panel of impacted residents and campaigners who had dealt with similar proposals in the Llanymynech area when they were on the agenda around 10 years ago.

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According to Mrs Morgan, Bute Energy and Green GEN were invited but declined to attend.

The public forum covered a wide variety of topics, from the viability of burying lines at key locations such as between Crickheath and Pant, to the impact that objections from SP Energy Networks and the National Grid have on whether or not the ‘Vyrnwy-Frankton corridor’ can go ahead at all.

Mrs Morgan has pledged to take local concerns to Bute Energy and Green GEN, demanding changes to the scheme to protect as much North Shropshire countryside as possible.

She said: “Hundreds – if not thousands – of residents across north Shropshire are very concerned by plans for a 31-mile line of 27-metre pylons that would dissect much of our countryside and have a serious visual impact on dozens of villages and hamlets.

“It was very useful to hear local views in Pant earlier this week, to hear first-hand what people were most concerned about and what actions they want to see taken.

“It was standing room only and one of the busiest and most passionate public meetings I have held in my time as North Shropshire’s MP, which shows the strength of feeling on this.”

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She also thanked the people who joined her on the panel and said she now has a remit to move forward.

Mrs Morgan said: “Thank you in particular to Shaun and Brett who joined me on the panel, and to the more than 150 local residents who came along to hear the discussion and share their views.

“The meeting has given us a very clear steer on what we need to be going back to Bute Energy with and what local people find most important.”