CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new substation in the north Essex countryside as part of wider plans for 18 miles of pylons have been granted by council planners.

Braintree Council’s planning committee granted the application after previously deferring it in August.

The plans were submitted by the National Grid as they spearhead proposals to bring more than 18 miles of overhead and underground electricity cables to the area between Twinstead and Bramford substation.

The move is part of a wider scheme to reach net zero by 2050 and connect 40GW of offshore wind by 2030.

The new substation would be located near Bulmer, just off the A131 and would see a new 400/132 kilovolt (kv) substation, including two super grid transformers, buildings and equipment.

The location is a point of contention for some as it lies between the ancient woodlands of Butlers Wood and Waldegrave Wood.

The application has also been amended in places, which includes moving the site further away from the A131 – from 25 metres to 44 metres.

The plans have attracted criticism from nearby parish councils, with Alphamstone, Gestingthorpe, Bulmer, the Hennys, Middleton and Twinstead, and Wickham St Paul objecting.

Reasons for their objections include inadequate visual assessment, impact on motorists and the A131, and impact on the landscape.

Councillors voted to approve the application after it was recommended for approval by council planning officers.

At the meeting, green councillor James Abbott said: “The strengthening of the grid is going to be something we’ll have to grapple with.

“In particular, with lots of green energy coming off the North Sea, which recently actually peaked at 50 per cent of the entire UK grid electricity being provided by wind energy and that’s going up all the time.

“But that does have some consequences, and this is one of them - the development of a facility like this in the open countryside.

“The discussions with Nation Grid have been good and moving the footprint back is good. Further landscape planting is excellent, so those are good things.”