Aquind: Consultation deadline for controversial £1.3bn electricity interconnector between France and Lovedean has been extended

The extension from March 31 to April 28 was requested by both Aquind and Hampshire County Council to allow more time for responses to be made to a letter from energy secretary Grant Shapps.

Campaigners leading opposition to the scheme, which they warn will cause years of disruption during its laying and ‘destroy’ protected environmental areas, have now started collecting signatures to an open letter urging the government to reject the application.

The application was submitted in 2019 and refused last year but a successful High Court challenge by Aquind saw this decision quashed. Mr Shapps is now reconsidering the plans.

At the beginning of March he wrote to Aquind, National Grid, Portsmouth City Council and Coastal Partners requesting more information, including on the feasibility of Mannington substation as an alternative to its planned end point in Lovedean.

Aquind, whose donations of hundreds of thousands of pounds to Conservative MPs have drawn criticism, said the interconnector would help the government meet its net zero carbon emissions target.

But the project has significant local objection, including from MPs, the city council and campaign group Let’s Stop Aquind.

ALSO READ: Conservative MP Flick Drummond urges government to reject interconnector plans

An open letter (https://the.organise.network/campaigns/network-it-s-time-to-stopaquind-0ef6658793b2bb03) from the latter to Mr Shapps, the prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt has already been signed more than 1,800 times weeks after its launch.

‘The duty of government is to act on the will of the people, defend its citizens and protect democracy,’ it says ‘While the threat of the Aquind Interconnector hangs over the people of Portsmouth, you are failing on all counts.’

It adds: ‘Aquind’s money and influence have gone to the very heart of the Conservative Party,’ calling on MPs to return this money.

Group member Paula Ann Savage, who will stand as the Labour candidate in Milton in next month’s city council elections, said the letter reflected the range of concerns around the project.

‘There are so many problems, not least the enormous and disastrous environmental impact it would have,’ she said. ‘Everyone I speak to in Portsmouth is against this.

‘For the first time, all political parties are united on this reflecting how important it is that we stop this.’

No timeframe has been set for a decision on the application although it will take at least several months to be published.

NOW READ: Aquind wins judicial review to build interconnector meaning decision will be looked at again by the government

ALSO READ: French campaigners joining forces with Portsmouth in bid to halt controversial interconnector project