The public consultation on this development is now closed and we await the National Grid’s response. The next stage will be a DCO assessment, at which interested parties (that’s anyone who wishes to provide input to the assessment) will be able to state their case.

The Society’s position remains that, while the country needs to upgrade its electricity distribution infrastructure, the Minster Marshes is not the right location for any expansion due to its unique environmental and historical significance.

As always seems the way, plans are driven by a “least cost” mentality, without factoring in the costs of environmental degradation and loss. Within our current economic system, companies are permitted to extract resources, and despoil the environment, without having to pay the costs of the environmental damage caused, which are instead borne by the public. This imbalance must change, going forward, to ensure equitable development of our natural spaces.

Phil Shotton, Ramsgate Society Lead on Environment and Climate Change