AN action group has launched a counter consultation as a last bid to raise awareness over plans for an electricity network upgrade.

National Grid is looking to create a 180km-long corridor of 55m-high overhead pylons stretching across Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

But the consultation has met with opposition from local residents, many of whom even claim they were previously unaware of the plans.

This has prompted action group Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons to launch its own public survey to counter National Grid’s questionnaire.

Rosie Pearson, founder of the action group said: “The National Grid’s consultation is nothing more than greenwashing.

“Questions put to people on their survey are loaded, blatantly biased and irrelevant.

“It asked, for example, whether people approve of green energy.

“But this has nothing whatsoever to do with their plans for the project.”

In the new survey, the action group asks questions it regards as “real public concerns”, including people’s health, wildlife, finances and the longer-term planning around power distribution.

Rosie added: “We also wanted to ask people their views on other options such as a strategic offshore grid.

“Indeed, a subsea grid was found by National Grid themselves, to offer environmental and socio-economic benefits, plus a huge £6 billion saving for consumers – but this option has not even been presented to us.”

The findings of the survey, along with a detailed account from the group’s own technical experts and a legal opinion from planning QC Charles Banner, will be submitted to National Grid.

A National Grid spokesman has previously said: “It is National Grid’s responsibility to connect new generation into the national transmission system and get it to where it is needed, safely and securely.

“We are governed by a number of licence and regulatory obligations and we’ve been carrying out assessments and studies to find the most appropriate way to achieve this in East Anglia, and in other parts of the country.

“We feel these proposals best meet our obligations.“

The survey can be found at pylonseastanglia.co.uk.

It will run until June 14, closing just before National Grid’s public consultation on June 16. Visit ngrid.com/382QjOA.