Controversial plans for dozens of towering new electricity pylons in the countryside around Canterbury have been condemned by Kent County Council.

It is now urging National Grid to review its proposed ‘Richborough Connection’ and consider using underground cables to prevent the environmental blight.

The company plans to erect more than 60 pylons up to 50 metres high between Richborough and the Broad Oak sub-station in Canterbury.

But KCC leader Paul Carter says the council opposes the “imposition of pylons on this important area of special countryside”.

He also fears they will impact on housing plans for Hersden and Sturry as well as proposals for a new reservoir at Broad Oak.

He says the company must not discount underground cables simply on the grounds of cost but use them to minimise the visual impact of the scheme.

He added: “With further environmental restrictions likely in the future, it would be better to carry out the work now rather than duplicating costs.”

The KCC’s intervention has been welcomed by North Thanet’s Conservative candidate Roger Gale who is calling on the company to scrap the Richborough Connection altogether.

He says the company should instead consider bringing the cables from the Continent ashore at Kingsnorth on the Isle of Grain where there are existing disused power stations.

He said: “The planned pylons and route are so iintrusive as to be completely unacceptable in an area of very considerable natural beauty, disrupting farming and small leisure businesses.

“If the power supply from mainland Europe is necessary, then the company are going to have to go back to the drawing board.”

But the scheme has been accepted by Canterbury City Council “in principle”, following a meeting of its planning committee.

The council has been invited to comment as a consultee but is also recommending numerous amendments to the route aimed at moving the pylons further away from homes and businesses and putting the cables underground near the planned Broad Oak reservoir.

Richborough Connection project manager Steve Self said: “In developing our proposals, we have taken on board the public’s feedback and the findings from our environmental and technical studies and we believe that an overhead line connection between Richborough and Canterbury is the most appropriate way to join the Nemo Link to our network.

“We carefully considered whether there were any particularly sensitive locations where it would be appropriate to use much more expensive underground cables, but feel that a carefully designed and routed overhead line within the existing landscape features achieves the best balance. This important because the costs of our connections end up on everyone’s bills.

“We also feel the proposed route strikes the right balance between the impact on the environment, the residents of Broad Oak and we are continuing to work with South East Water with its reservoir proposal to ensure that both projects can proceed successfully.

“We’re currently going through all the comments people made during our recent consultation and this feedback will help shape our thinking as we prepare our proposals for submission to the planning inspectorate this autumn."