MP discusses role of pylons in the image of Dartford 

You don’t have to go very far in North Kent before you come across a line of electricity pylons. The sheer number of pylons, strung out across the landscape in all directions, is one of the first things any visitor to the area notices. So ubiquitous are they that it’s no surprise that at least one of the short-listed entries to the Ebbsfleet Landmark competition, seems to be inspired by them; however unconsciously. Richard Deacon’s steel crystalline stack in particular echoes the familiar latticework torso that forms each pylon.

There is a certain irony in this of course as this is precisely the image of North Kent that the competition was set up to help dispel. Ever since the Thames Gateway was first identified by the Government as a regeneration priority back in the early 1990s, the presence of so many pylons in North Kent has been seen as an issue that is holding the area back.

Re-routing or better still burying the area’s high-voltage power lines was seen then as a necessary step in helping to re-brand North Kent and restore its fortunes following the loss of much of its industrial base. Fifteen years on, we’ve made some progress in this respect, but there is still a long way to go. The news therefore that National Grid is unlikely to agree to the burial of the power lines crossing Stone Pit Quarry which is due to be redeveloped as housing, comes as a major setback.

It’s disappointing not just from an aesthetic or environmental standpoint, but also from a public health perspective. A cross-party committee of MPs that I have been leading has found good evidence to suggest that there is a link between childhood leukaemia and exposure to the electromagnetic fields created by high voltage overhead power cables. We can’t say for sure that one causes the other, but my view is that we should err on the side of caution and restrict development close to power lines. For that reason I would like to see a moratorium on development that falls within at least 60 metres of existing high voltage overhead power lines.

Burying overhead power lines is an expensive business and often fraught with technical difficulties. It is however the most effective way of reducing exposure to electromagnetic fields and also makes sound environmental sense. Finding the necessary resources to do this in the Thames Gateway therefore needs to be made a priority by Government and its partners.