Electricity pylons are to be removed from beauty spots for the first time, with the power lines buried underground at a cost of £7 million for each structure.
It emerged yesterday that a £500 million National Grid scheme will result in 65 pylons being dismantled across Britain. That equates to fewer than 1 in 20 of the 1,500 pylons in national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty.
National Grid, which owns the electricity transmission system, said that the figure of £7 million per pylon was due to the need to negotiate with landowners and dig wide trenches, in some cases measuring up to 20 metres across, to bury the power lines.
The budget for the eight-year scheme will be borne by electricity bill payers,