MANY landowners along the route of a overhead power line proposed through Carmarthenshire are not allowing the company which wants to build it on their land, it has been claimed.

As things stand most of the proposed 97km power line from Radnor Forest, near Llandrindod Wells, north of Carmarthenshire, to a substation south of Carmarthen would run overhead on pylons, crossing the county’s agricultural heartland – an area also popular with tourists. The 132,000-volt cable would transmit electricity from planned wind farms, generally following the line of the Towy Valley, to connect to the grid.

Following a public consultation Green GEN Cymru has agreed to bury a 5.5km section underground where it crosses the River Towy near Llanarthne to reduce potential landscape effects. It said the undergounding of cables was several times more expensive than the overhead option and that the infrastructure it built had to be efficient and economical.

Pylon opponents who have spoken to the Local Democracy Reporting Service said they didn’t object to renewable energy schemes and acknowledged the grid had to be upgraded.

Dyfan Walters, co-chairman of Llandovery pylon steering group, a campaign group, said he was not allowing Green GEN Cymru associates on his farm near Llandovery. He said cable-ploughing the power line would overcome landowners’ objections.

“The vast majority have refused access, knowing full well we could end up in court,” he said. “I think that shows the strength of feeling. I don’t think it would be a great look for Green GEN if they were to take 300 farmers to court.

“We have offered to work with them to get these cables underground. If they seriously considered it we would work with them and open our gates. With cable-ploughing the land is reinstated the next day or following day.”

There is no suggestion that Green GEN Cymru intends to round up farmers and take them to court. It said all landowners have been and continued to be offered meetings with it and its land agents.

Mr Walters added: “We fully understand there is a need to ‘future proof’ the country. We understand we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels and find other sources of energy. We fully appreciate the grid infrastructure needs to be improved, particularly in Mid Wales.

“But this power line won’t do anything to improve our (landowners’) infrastructure. It’s a motorway basically. Agriculture and tourism are key economic inputs in this area. We would much prefer to keep it beautiful.”

Mr Walters also claimed that pylons devalued agricultural holdings and that building them put land out of action for a lengthy spell.

Given that businesses and consumers ultimately bear at least some of the cost of grid upgrades, I asked what would happen if Green GEN Cymru agreed to underground the power line but spent a lot more money doing so.

“It’s a valid point,” replied Mr Walters. “I just wish Green GEN would tell us how the cost of cable-ploughing would compare.”

Green GEN Cymru has said that undergrouding cables would cost seven to 10 times more than the overhead option. The conventional way of burying cables is to dig a large open trench, disrupting all uses of the land during construction and, for example, restricting future tree-planting either side to avoid root systems interfering. The points where the sections of cable are joined together also require above-ground infrastructure. Rocky, hilly and wooded land pose problems.

Mr Walters said he and others were of the view that undergrounding was not as expensive as suggested, and that cable-ploughing was less expensive still. But he added: “We are not experts in this field.”

Carmarthenshire Council’s cabinet member for resources, Cllr Alun Lenny, said in a letter this summer to a public sector pension fund that the council had refused Green GEN Cymru onto its land. Council leader Darren Price said, following legal advice, the position was that only tenants of its land could refuse or allow access, not the council itself.

Llandovery councillor Handel Davies said it was his understanding that resistance was “virtually unanimous” because cable-ploughing didn’t appear to be a serious option.

The perception, he said, was that the community wouldn’t benefit from the Towy-Usk project. “There needs to be a significant, recognisable benefit locally,” he said.

Cllr Davies also wondered if the two north-to-south power line routes proposed by Green GEN Cymru would be joined by others criss-crossing the landscape in the future.

“The compensation being talked about is going to be outweighed by the impact,” he said.