Villagers pile on the pressure over substation plans

VILLAGERS in mid-Norfolk are piling pressure on the developers behind a scheme to build a 40-acre electricity substation to withdraw their planning application.

VILLAGERS in mid-Norfolk are piling pressure on the developers behind a scheme to build a 40-acre electricity substation to withdraw their planning application.

People living in Little Dunham have attacked claims that there is widespread support for a substation next to their village, which would channel energy from a wind farm off the coast of Cromer into the national grid.

The Little Dunham Action Group is calling on developers Warwick Energy to withdraw their planning application, currently under consideration by planners at Breckland Council.

Paul Gardner, 47, a business advisor who lives on Necton Road, the proposed road of the site, said only 106 people had expressed their support for the development across 154 questionnaires.

He said: 'For Warwick to claim they have properly consulted on a project of this scale is absolutely ridiculous.

'We've already found over 80 people in just one village totally opposed to the site of the substation so to suggest they have support for this is beyond belief.'

But Mark Petterson, project coordinator for Warwick Energy, said: 'I think it's fair to say there's overwhelming support and if they're saying otherwise they're wrong. Their's is not exactly an unbiased poll.'