A LAKE District conservation organisation is calling on the help of eagle-eyed volunteers to help identify intrusive overhead cables, reports Ruth Lythe.
Friends of the Lake District is working with United Utilities to spend £5m set aside by the energy company to remove overhead wires from the countryside over the next five years.
United Utilities, which is responsible for distributing electricity across the whole of the North West, was given permission to spend the money on the scheme by government industry regulator OFGEM.
The money can only be spent on lines that are part of the regional distribution networks across the country and not lines that are supported by metal pylons which form part of the national grid.
Friends of the Lake District communications officer Martin Varley explained that the organisation had been campaigning for several years to reduce the visual impact of overhead lines. He said that, as a result of work with the energy company, FLD had developed a technique to help identify priority lines to route underground.
A survey of the worst offenders is planned for the coming year along with a programme for placing the lines underground for 2007.
Mr Varley said: "Historically our campaign goes right back to the 1930s and the issue of overhead wires is not something that we have just made up. The fact of the matter is that, from a research point of view, we have lots of people who have shown concern about overhead wires in the countryside."
If you are aware of any visually intrusive sections of overheard lines that appear out-of-character in the landscape, then staff at FLD would like you to inform them.
The pole must fall inside the National Park or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and be supported by wooden poles and not pylons. Placing it underground should benefit the public and not an individual.
To make a suggestion, contact Carol Douglas, the Overhead Wires Officer at FLD on 01539 720 788.
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