Credit: Pixabay Commons
MPs clashed over the levels of compensation that should be awarded to residents affected by new electricity transmission works during Tuesday’s committee meeting over the latest amendments to the Governments ‘Planning and Infrastructure Bill’.
Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary Paul Holmes opened the discussion around amendment 83 to clause 22 of the ‘Planning and Infrastructure Bill’ by welcoming the move which will ‘empower the Secretary of State to establish a benefit scheme for people living near new or upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure’ as it ‘is vital that people living locally to these works, who will see their lives disrupted, receive fair compensation for their trouble’.
However, speaking on behalf of his Conservative party, Holmes was not in total agreement with the amount of compensation proposed in the clause, instead suggesting that affected residents be ‘entitled to a financial benefit of £1000 per year for 10 years, provided directly or indirectly by electricity providers,’ and called on the Government to be more transparent with both Parliament and those impacted by transmission works about the level of compensation they are prepared to offer.
Minister Michael Shanks addressed these concerns by firstly welcoming the support from across the committee to the principle of this amendment as ‘the principle we want to recognise… is that if you host nationally important energy infrastructure, particularly transmission infrastructure which so often has less of a community benefit in the communities that it goes through, there should be some benefit from it’.
Minister Shanks then began to underline the Government’s stance on the amount of compensation they are going to offer impacted residents by highlighting the importance of a balance being struck between compensating those affected by new electricity transmission infrastructure, while also not burdening other people across the country who will pay for these benefits with a huge bill. As a result, he stated that the Government felt a compensation package of £1000 over a 10-year period was too much and instead stated the balance the Government had struck was compensating those affected with £250 per month over a ten-year period instead.
Shanks believes this is still a fair amount as the money will provide ‘a significant benefit of bills for those households for a significant period of time… but at the same time doesn’t result in a significant amount being put onto the bills of other people right across the country who will pay for this.’
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