Fareham Borough Council approves UK-France power plans

A council has approved plans for infrastructure to help link the electricity transmission systems of Great Britain and France.

Fareham Borough Council received 1,134 objections to the proposed converter station and underground cables.

However, members voted for the outline scheme, which forms part of the £500m Interconnector project known as IFA2.

National Grid said the project would secure energy supplies and help to reduce electricity costs.

It said IFA2, a partnership with French power transmission operator Réseau de Transport d'Electricité (RTE), would increase access to sources of supply on the continent.

It would be "worth £1bn a year to customers in lower energy prices" because of lower power prices on the continent, National Grid said.

IFA2 would be Britain's fifth interconnector, adding to existing links with France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It would involve laying more than 100 miles of undersea cables between the two countries, from Normandy to Hill Head beach at Stubbington, Hampshire.

Details of the underground and undersea cable route

An artist's impression of the interconnector convertor building which could be build at Daedalus airfield

Power would be relayed to a 22m (72ft)-high power converter station to be built at the Daedalus site, Lee-on-the-Solent.

Members of Fareham Borough Council's planning committee also approved the laying of underground cables at Daedalus, Hill Head and Chilling.

'Loud noises'

The authority said concerns about the landscape and purported health risks from electromagnetic fields were among 1,134 objections it received from residents, as well as 10 representations in favour of the scheme.

The chairman of Lee Residents Association, Martin Marks, said one of his main objections was about "loud noises" from the station.

He said: "They've had problems at the Isle of Grain and their houses are six times further away than they would be at Lee-on-the-Solent."

Residents have appealed to the Secretary of State to call in the application for review.

National Grid said it would submit a further detailed planning application later in 2017 for the converter station and a new public open space around the site.