Why we should Save Minster Marshes & Rethink Sea Link

National Grid (a private company paying billions in profit to shareholders every year) have unveiled plans to upgrade the grid that delivers our growing demands for electricity - something that of course is needed. However, the locations they plan to bring in the linking cable and build the associated infrastructure will have a giant, negative, and irreversible impact on the incredibly special Sandwich and Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve (NNR) and Minster Marshes. In short, their plans are  

• Installing over 130km of subsea cable running between Suffolk and Kent 
• Make landfall at Kent through Sandwich and Pegwell Bay NNR 
• Build the converter and sub stations within Minster Marshes, resulting in the loss of 13ha of valuable habitat  
• Install 2.25km of new overhead cables  

The list of how it will affect the last wild part of Thanet is a long one but here’s a few points:  

• It’s a low-lying area that regularly floods and will be affected by rising sea levels in the near future  
• It will cause significant biodiversity loss  
• New pylons are a proven aerial threat to birds  
• The area will lose its character landscape with the loss of long views  
• Light and noise pollution from the site will have adverse impact on wildlife and us   
• These converter stations hum loudly 24/7 causing noise pollution which will impact wildlife (especially the resident bats and owls) and us 
• The area is being developed at a rapid speed already. The cumulative impact on wildlife will be significant   
• The run-off from this giant infrastructure during heavy rainfall will have a significant impact on the Marsh and downstream 
• Disturbance during construction alone will have a giant impact on the area. 

A group of us at “Save Minster Marshes” have been working hard to raise awareness about this project. A lot of people are surprised just how big it is and how devastating it will be. We have support from thousands of people that want to protect this special place. Now I’m on board with the wonderful Kent Wildlife Trust who are asking National Grid to “Rethink Sea Link”.  

Having met with National Grid and reading through lots of their documentation it’s clear they had no idea how special this place was when they came up with these plans. A large chunk of their research has just been “desktop studies” they do not know the land like us naturalists and the people at Kent Wildlife Trust do. Over the years National Grid have already been developing the area and pushing wildlife away, they don’t have a very good history. 

I know Pegwell Bay extremely well, it’s nationally protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and internationally protected as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar. Much of the life there is in the public eye - it’s an amazing place and I’m fortunate to live right next to it now. However, until now we have kept very secretive about the wildlife on the Minster Marshes because we want it to be left alone.