Campaigners fear a precious Kent wildlife habitat untouched for centuries will be destroyed if plans for a massive electricity converter station covering the size of at least seven football pitches are approved.

The controversial scheme, which North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale has branded “cheapskate and unnecessary”, is being proposed by National Grid on the Minster marshes, near Ramsgate.

The major proposals – which will ultimately be ruled on by the government – are part of the company’s Sea Link project, which aims to connect the increasing wind-generated east coast electricity supplies between Suffolk and Kent.

It will involve running 130km of high-capacity undersea cables between new converter stations in Friston and Richborough, carrying “renewable and low carbon power to homes and businesses”.

That’s on top of the 60 new pylons from Richborough to Canterbury completed in 2021 as part of the Richborough Connection and Nemo Link, to carry electricity between Belgium and Britain.

But campaigners fighting the proposals say the 100ft high converter station, covering almost 15 acres, will desecrate the nature-rich Minster marshes which are next to a site of scientific special interest (SSSI).

They are also concerned about a likely swathe of more electricity pylons cutting through the countryside.

Sir Roger has now written to Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Claire Coutinho highlighting his concerns.

“This is anything but a sea link and is reliant very heavily on the installation of a massive transformer adjacent to an SSSI and the installation of further pylons across east Kent,” he said.

“This is a cheapskate and unnecessary approach and viable genuine projects have been proposed but ignored by National Grid.”

The company says it will carry out a full environmental assessment of the site to consider any potential impacts and how best to mitigate or reduce them.

But George Cooper, 61, who started the Save Minster Marshes Facebook Group which now has more than 300 supporters, fears it will be a disaster for wildlife in the area – where numerous swans have already been killed after flying into overhead cables.

“I may be a gamekeeper on a local farm, but we do a lot of conservation work and I have been coming to the marshes since I was a 12-year-old kid,” he said.

“This really is a precious habitat for many threatened bird species and other wildlife.

“It’s been like it for centuries and because it’s private land, it’s largely undisturbed by the public which has helped wildlife flourish.

“While nature is being driven out of a lot of places in Thanet due to all the building and new roads going on, it is increasingly finding a haven on Minster marshes, which have become a last refuge.

“What National Grid is proposing is outrageous and will do a huge amount of damage to this precious environment.

“It will devastate the habitat.”

Mr Cooper says people have told him he’s got no chance of stopping the new converter station because it’s a major national infrastructure project for “green energy”.

But he said: “How can it be green energy when they’re going to destroy all this?”

Mr Cooper believes National Grid should locate the converter on a brownfield site, such as the former Richborough power station.

But the company has dismissed nearby alternative locations as unsuitable and say the marshes remain its “preferred” location.

Local wildlife filmmaker Keith Ross, who leads guided nature walks, is also alarmed by National Grid’s proposals which he says will destroy a vital wildlife corridor.

“Marsh harriers, kestrels and ravens breed here, peregrine falcons and barn owls hunt here and in the summer turtle doves, cuckoos and nightingales sing,” he says.

“National Grid’s plans to build a new converter site in this very area will disturb what is a vital wildlife corridor between Pegwell Bay, Minster marshes and the Ash levels across the River Stour.

“I'm thankful that I have seen the amazing wildlife here but I fear that future generations will inherit a much poorer natural world.”

Writing on the Save Minster Marshes Facebook page, Katie Fox says she also fears for the wildlife.

“I'm deeply disturbed by the plans, having been rescuing and rehabilitating Minster’s wildlife for many years,” she says.

“I have seen first-hand the precious creatures that call the marshes home. It would be a travesty to allow this to go ahead.”

National Grid says electricity from offshore wind farms off the east coast of England will power homes and businesses in East Anglia.

But during periods of high wind generation, there may be a surplus of electricity which will need to be exported to Europe via interconnectors to keep the British network safe, secure and in balance.

To enable this surplus electricity to be exported, energy has to be first transferred from where it is received in East Anglia to where interconnectors link into the network in Kent and the rest of south-east England.

The link between the two electricity converters could allow an extra two gigawatts of power to be delivered to Kent, says the company, and is vital as the country moves away from fossil fuels.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy says the Sea Link project is being dealt with as “nationally significant” and will be treated as a scheme for which development consent is required under the Planning Act 2008.

Any application will be made to the Planning Inspectorate, which will hold hearings to examine the proposals and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State.

An application, including a full environmental impact statement, is expected to be made in the middle of next year with the Secretary of State making a decision in 2025 and work starting in 2026, if approved, and completed in 2030.

A non-statutory public consultation has already taken place – but many villagers say they were not aware or did not realise the full implications of the development.

A further statutory public consultation begins on October 24.