Together with the Member of Parliament, Hywel Williams, I gave evidence on the first statutory consultation of the National Grid on the north Wales link, namely the scheme that would create a line of pylons across Arfon and Ynys Môn. In Arfon, specifically, we were calling for a tunnel under the Menai strait, instead of new pylons, because of the completely negative visual impact that would have in an area of outstanding natural beauty. We had concerns about the impact of pylons on the local area and the Snowdonia national park, which is adjacent. I’m very pleased that that campaign was successful, with a tunnel under the Menai strait as part of the scheme, to date, but of course that could yet change.

During the last consultation, I stated that the small section, 1 km in length, of pylons on the main land in Arfon should be undergrounded. That continues to be part of the scheme on the table at present, and that also because of the visual impact from the national park. The national park is an essential asset for the economic and cultural well-being of the area, both now and in the future, and any development that could have a negative impact on people’s enjoyment of the views within the park could have a detrimental effect on the local economy, through tourism, and so on.

Plaid Cymru, of course, believes that powers over the grid, in addition to full powers over energy projects under the planning regime, should be in the hands of the people of Wales. This is where we should be taking those decisions. Therefore, we would not have to be dependent on the goodwill of the National Grid with the matter of the tunnel under the Menai, for example.

In the interim, we must look at how to alleviate these issues in a more realistic manner, perhaps. In the interim, we need to give consideration to the way in which decisions are taken. In processing projects, there has been a great deal of delay in the planning system. The planning authorities are responsible for ensuring that the visual impact of electricity transmission projects is mitigated, and the National Grid must consider the visual impact of various technologies and possible routes for the transmission of electricity in order to secure planning permission, and all of that takes time. Pylons do cause a great deal of bad feeling locally because of the detriment to the amenity, and this all causes a long delay in the planning system—on average, a delay of between eight and 10 years. If the undergrounding option was available from the very start, then this delay would not happen.

A lot of attention is paid to the cost of undergrounding. In 2014, the Infrastructure Planning Commission said that underground cables are between 4.5 and 5.7 times more expensive than having traditional pylons. That sounds like a large sum. But, when you look at the cost of maintenance, electricity loss, the ‘Downton’ effect and the fact, as I said, that planning decisions can take so long, when you take all of this into consideration, the figure is reduced to between twice and five times more expensive. Nobody is arguing that undergrounding, at present, isn’t more expensive, but that could change, of course, as the technology improves. Even then, it is less than 2 per cent of the production cost. That is of comparatively little significance when compared to the negative impact of pylons, which would be of great importance to the local economy.