Snowdonia power lines to go underground, National Grid says

Views across Snowdonia National Park are to be improved after the National Grid announced plans to remove overhead power lines.

It forms part of £500m funding from regulator Ofgem to transform four protected landscapes across Wales and England by burying cables underground by 2021.

The stretch in Snowdonia runs from Portmeirion to Llyn Trawsfynydd.

However, Brecon Beacons National Park missed out on the funding.

The New Forest, Peak District and Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are the other three areas which will see overhead power lines disappear.

'Expensive and complex'

Environmentalist Chris Baines, who chaired the stakeholder group of conservation organisations which advised National Grid on which transmission lines to prioritise, said some "difficult decisions" had to be made.

He said: "Reducing the visual impact of pylons and power lines in our most precious landscapes is highly desirable, but it is also very expensive and technically complex so we have had to make some difficult decisions.

"Although four schemes have been prioritised, none of the locations on our original short list have been dropped and they will remain under consideration for future work to reduce the impact of National Grid's transmission lines under the vision impact provision project."