AQUIND: Two Sides to the Story

 by Maya Choudhury

(image source: Portsmouth Daily News)

Introduction

Aquind is an interconnector and an underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electric power transmission connection between the South Coast of England and Normandy in France. Many people are protesting if it is right or wrong.

How can it affect us?

 By linking the British and French electric power grid, it will make energy markets more systematic.  This will result in more efficient use of production capacities and better management of electricity consumption and production fluctuations. However AQUIND also leads to many disruptions to residents,  traffic and businesses, which would last many years. Air and noise pollution will rise , Portsmouth already suffers a lot from that. Aquind will threaten parks, commons and other wild spaces. It can ruin some of the few green spaces where it is sort of safe to meet up. AQUIND will lay cables underneath Milton and Eastney allotments and could cause certain damages to the plants. Where many of the AQUIND cables are going are by historical landfill areas containing toxic waste. If AQUIND does happen, it will disturb the chemicals and the fumes will spread.

Ideally, I personally think that AQUIND is a bad idea. Lots of other people including the Portsmouth city council think so too. On the 11 of October, there was a demonstration and I was lucky enough to interview one of the protestors. Interview I was lucky enough to speak with a protestor who was at the demonstration at 10/11/20: Lynne Harvey.

How did you hear about Aquind?

I am not sure that I can remember, to be honest. I have a feeling that something may have come through the door. There were information sessions held at Milton Village Hall and I went to two of these, but I can't be certain of the dates. Certainly, after Stephen Morgan was elected as our MP, as I was a member of the Labour Party at the time and knew Stephen well enough to approach him directly after we had visited the exhibition to discuss my concerns with him there and then. I spoke to the presenters at the time and felt very uneasy about the whole project - it had a sense of being wrong on just about every level. This was supposed to be some kind of consultation but the people speaking did so with total confidence that this was going to happen. At the time, the proposed route went down Bransbury Road and then turned into Milton Road - complete madness. How anyone could suggest this was beyond me!

Describe in three words, how you felt when you first heard about it.

Angry, incredulous, concerned. Why do you feel so passionate about stopping the interconnector? Because it is so wrong for the city of Portsmouth. It will be of no benefit to us and will cause massive disruption in so many ways. It will cause inconvenience, traffic disruption on an unprecedented scale, causing pollution, damage to wildlife, disruption to an unspoiled environmentally important and unique part of our coastline, potential destruction of allotments - which are a very important resource for any city. It has been authorised by government with no understanding of the area and it is opposed by all political parties locally in all the affected local authorities through which the project is due to pass. The company involved has given a great deal of money to the party which is in government and, while such things are not unusual, it feels very wrong; however, this is another issue and I would not want it to deflect from the most important case against this project which is environmental in every sense.

Knowing there is such a strength of opposition against this locally makes me question the state of democracy in this country; this is so clearly such a wrong thing to impose on a precious environmentally sensitive area in one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. This is poorly thought out and shoddily researched, imposed on the citizens of Portsmouth in an underhand manner. It is wrong.

Do you think we will be successful in stopping it?

I have every hope that common sense will prevail, with strong support of all the key political players locally, so, yes, I am very hopeful. I believe it can be stopped. How did you feel when you were demonstrating? Pleased to be doing something proactive in support of the movement against AQUIND, a strong sense of camaraderie and a coming-together of a diverse group of people with a strong sense of community and care for our city. A sense of pride in the solidarity of a community united with a common purpose, whatever their political persuasion.

Will AQUIND personally affect you if it was to go ahead?

Yes, I think it will affect us all in some ways, to a greater or lesser extent, but I live near the area where the proposed route will go, from its landfall on the beach to the Milton Common area. I regularly walk or cycle around the Eastney coastal area, Ferry Road, Lumsden Road, Eastney Lake, Bransbury Park, Locksway Road and Milton Common areas - this is a beautiful, unique, coastal area, like a little piece of the country in a busy city. It is also near a major traffic route, running parallel to the Eastern Road; the disruption will have a knock-on effect across this city, potentially causing chaos. It will not end with installation; there is a potential for maintenance in the future. There will be such a massive loss of wildlife habitat - the immediate area will never be the same again. We are already about to experience a whole new building project nearby, at the Fraser Range, which will inevitably put a strain on the area's infrastructure and resources. The unwarranted disruption which the AQUIND development will add to this is untenable, unnecessary and will bring absolutely nothing to the area; it is only disadvantageous. I would be personally affected by all of the above, which would cause strong emotions of sadness and a keen sense of loss; my quality of life will be adversely affected.

What do you think the city would be like if AQUIND goes ahead? It will be a place of loss, a lesser place, where people can only remember what there was on the Eastern side of the Island - you don't know what you have until it's gone. The city will be so much poorer for the loss of the disrupted environment. Are there any alternative ways we can generate electricity? I am not a scientist, but I do believe we have the technology to harness the power of the sun, the sea and the wind. What stops this is greed, the desire for money to be made by companies who would rather rob the Earth of its resources through mining and enslaving workers than seek cleaner, greener, simpler not-for-profit solutions. Of course, we all need to pay for energy but the profits should always be ploughed back into research for technologies and structural improvements which benefit us all, not line the pockets of a few wealthy investors. Energy should be nationalised for the common good.

Conclusion

After interviewing Lynne, I am definitely concluding that AQUIND is a very bad idea that we need to stop.