Portsmouth people will be heard in Aquind plan as Planning Inspectorate makes 'exceptional' change

The Planning Inspectorate revealed it has made the ‘exceptional’ decision to accept a ‘large number’ of objections submitted by the public after a recent deadline.

A grassroots group has sprung up to oppose the £1.2bn interconnector plans, with more than 150 involved in a human chain along the shore last Saturday.

Anyone hoping to comment on the scheme had to have already registered their interest.

But this has now been waived in relation to submissions put in earlier this month.

As reported, the subsea cables from France would come ashore at Eastney before heading north underground via Milton Common to a new interconnector at Lovedean.

Campaigner Leah Wain, 45, who has an allotment at Milton Piece welcomed the development.

The childminder, of Southsea, said: ‘It’s good that they’re going to listen to the people because the planners might not live in Portsmouth - so it’s not going to affect them.’

Too few people had heard about Aquind’s plan, she said.

In other developments, Aquind has been asked to clarify some of its requests for rights over land by the Planning Inspectorate.

Submissions published online since the latest hearing show growing voices asking the company to find an alternative route.

Aquind has also been quizzed on why it is including fibre optic cables in the plan.

READ NEXT: Portsmouth council spends £250,000 fighting Aquind plans

The firm has now said it plans to lease out ‘spare capacity’ to ‘provide potential customers with a scalable, secure and cost-efficient alternative to laying additional fibre cables to meet future capacity (which is costly, risky and disruptive)’.

It added that the communications cabling will ‘support the ambitious targets which the UK government has set for rollout of gigabit fibre-to-the-premises broadband and 5G networks’.

But a response to the examination panel claims the project is not reliant on any cash coming from leasing out the fibre optic cabling for commercial communications.

Aquind has also now asked for up to seven years to complete the project if it is granted permission, up from five.

The company previously said the scheme will help Britain’s energy security.

It is a separate scheme to the IFA2 interconnector at Daedalus, which has cables running to Normandy, and will be tested soon. .

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