Time is running out to comment on National Grid’s Sea Link plans

Newly elected MP Polly Billington has said she is concerned about the lack of transparency demonstrated by National Grid.

Conservationists at Kent Wildlife Trusts are encouraging people to comment on National Grid’s plans to install an electricity cable linking Kent to Suffolk and making landfall at Pegwell Bay, an internationally important conservation site for wildlife in Ramsgate. 

National Grid reopened their consultation after making amendments to their plans and people have until 11th August to put forward their views. 

Despite the amendments Kent Wildlife Trust remain concerned about the impact the route will have on wildlife both at Pegwell Bay, a National Nature Reserve with multiple marine designations, and the local wildlife site of Minster Marshes. 

In December, the Trust launched its own “Rethink Sea Link” campaign urging the National Grid to use one of five less environmentally harmful routes they have identified. The charity also supports the Save Minster Marshes Campaign, who are concerned about how Sea Link will impact Minster Marshes, an important wildlife corridor, providing vital habitat for a variety of protected species, such as the golden plover, beavers and water vole. 

Kent Wildlife Trust has also expressed concerns over incomplete ecological survey data in National Grid’s Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PIER) asking the company to re-submit this before the submission of the Development Consent Order (DCO) is made. 

The charity also raised questions over the failure to carry out promised mitigation work for the previous installation of the Nemo Link cable at Pegwell Bay which caused irreversible damage to precious saltmarsh habitat. 

Planning Officers at the trust have responded to the latest consultation emphasising the need for careful planning and consideration to ensure the project does not negatively impact wildlife and their habitats and have requested further evidence to convey how the mitigation hierarchy has been followed. They have also called upon National Grid once more to address the failed mitigation attempts caused by Nemo Link. 

The charity has used the opportunity to once more voice its concerns over the lack of ecological surveys undertaken by the energy giant and requested that these be carried out and the findings made publicly available with a further consultation process before the Development Consent Order is submitted.

© Tim Horton

Planning and Policy Officer for Kent Wildlife Trust, Emma Waller says: “We are supportive of renewable energy, but we are in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis, and we cannot sacrifice one at the cost of the other. It is important that these emergencies are tackled in tandem. National Grid has outlined several alternative routes, but the one they have chosen causes untold harm to our natural world and we are asking them to take another look at alternative options and Rethink Sea Link. 

“Pegwell Bay is home to Kent’s largest population of seals, yet no physical surveys of these precious marine mammals have been carried out, in fact, many of the ecological surveys are either incomplete or desk-based. With so much at stake, we do not feel that National Grid have a full understanding of the impact of their actions and would ask they publicly resubmit their PIER in full before seeking a greenlight from Government.” 

Earlier in the year, Emma Waller met with Herne Bay and Sandwich MP Sir Roger Gale, who brandished the scheme disingenuous and supported Kent Wildlife Trust’s Rethink Sea Link Campaign. More recently the charity spoke with East Thanet MP Polly Billington at length to highlight their concerns about the plans.  

After the meeting, Polly Billington MP said: “I am very concerned about the lack of transparency demonstrated by National Grid in their decision-making and selection of this site which is so environmentally precious. As a private company, their bottom line might be their overriding concern, but residents in Thanet want assurances that nature is protected and restored as well as securing clean energy infrastructure: both are vital to tackling climate change.” 

You can read Kent Wildlife Trust’s full response to the August consultation here.

You can respond to National Grid’s consultation here. 

You can find out more about Kent Wildlife Trust’s Rethink Sea Link Campaign here. 

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