Ralph Fiennes' new video calls for 100-mile pylon plan to be scrapped in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex
Watch the campaign video produced from the Suffolk Energy Action Solutions campaign group.
Hollywood star Ralph Fiennes may be famous for targeting villains in his role as M in the James Bond movies, but now he has a new target in his sights.
The Oscar-winning actor has produced a new video campaigning against plans to build a corridor of pylons across the countryside of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
Energy company National Grid wants to create a 100-mile path of 50-metre high pylons to carry energy generated by offshore wind farms.
The proposal, known as East Anglia Green, has led to anger from a number of councils and local campaign groups.
The Voldemort actor has produced a video with campaign group Suffolk Energy Action Solutions (SEAS) setting out the claim that the North Sea, is the “perfect place” to build wind turbines vital for the fight against global warming.
In the video he says, only one North Sea country, the UK, has “decided to bring this vital clean green energy into the grid by building on land on greenfield sites as opposed to brownfield sites, creating acres of steel and concrete in areas of profound natural beauty”.
The film was launched on Tuesday alongside a SEAS petition to stop the plans and push for a parliamentary debate.
The Suffolk-born star details his links with the area and describes his childhood in the county.
Fiennes, 61, said National Grid's proposals involved "a complex of electrical infrastructure with landfall at Aldeburgh, Walberswick, Southwold towards two vast electrical hubs, built inland destroying many acres of heathland and habitat, coastline and wetland irreversibly."
Campaigners argue that a better option is an offshore network that brings in power from the various North Sea wind farms around the coast, rather than across the countryside. This power would then be connected to onshore substations on brownfield sites.
Last year, a government report recommended that payments should be offered to people to quell local opposition to the scheme, with householders living near any pylons could receive up to £1,000 off their electricity bills.
At the time, energy security and net zero minister Grant Shapps said it was important to reform the UK's energy system "to drive down bills, grow the economy and ensure tyrants like Putin can never again use energy as a weapon of war".
A spokesperson for National Grid said: “The existing electricity transmission network was built in the 1960s and was not designed to transport the clean, green, renewable energy from where it is generated out at sea, to homes and businesses across the country.
"The Great Grid Upgrade is the largest overhaul of the grid in generations, and as electricity demand is set to double, it is a critical part of how the UK can lower energy bills, combat climate change, and reach net zero."
The company also took issue with the claims in the video that an offshore scheme would save £2bn. It said the pylons plan would cost around £895m, with an offshore alternative coming in at around £4bn.
“There is no fully offshore solution to connect offshore wind to the grid in any country, and building new network to connect cheaper, cleaner electricity is the only way to bring energy bills down long term.
"Our role is to future proof the Grid for years to come by carefully developing proposals with environmental and biodiversity considerations that represent value for money for all consumers, facilitating the transition to a clean, fair, and affordable energy future.”
It is expected a statutory consultation on the plans will take place this year.
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