New Forest MP Desmond Swayne says he wants to see "much more detail" before supporting plans to remove pylons and overheard power lines from the New Forest.
29 pylons and four transmission lines over 4.8 miles are being replaced with underground cables near Hale in the New Forest and the area of outstanding natural beauty near Winterbourne Abbas under under a £500m Visual Impact Protection scheme, the National Grid says.
More will be removed near Dunford Bridge in the Peak District and Porthmadog in Snowdonia.
The four schemes have been prioritised eight national parks and AONBs across the country considered to have the most impact on protected landscapes.
The work will be funded by £500m raised by levies on household bills, and averages a cost of £11m per pylon. There will be a year of technical studies at the sites. Work could begin in 2018 and be completed by 2021.
The lines in the New Forest that will be replaced.
New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne said some higher voltage lines would need troughs as wide as motorways to run in.
He said: “I’m all for getting rid of them where necessary but we have to be careful what we wish for as it very much depends on the load the cable is carrying and the landscape.
“The devil is in the detail and I want to know what’s being proposed and where.”
The two nationally-protected locations have been prioritised by the National Grid, alongside Dunford Bridge in the Peak District and Snowdonia's Porthmadog.
Now, over the next 12 months, detailed feasibility works will be carried out at all four sites, including environmental, archaeological and engineering studies.
National Grid bosses insist there will also be "significant engagement with local stakeholders and communities" during this period.
Environmentalist Chris Baines, who helped advised the National Grid on which lines to remove first, told the Guardian said some difficult decisions had to be made.
He said: “Reducing the visual impact of pylons and power lines in our most precious landscapes is highly desirable, but it is also very expensive and technically complex so we have had to make some difficult decisions.
“Although four schemes have been prioritised, none of the locations on our original shortlist have been dropped and they will remain under consideration for future work to reduce the impact of National Grid’s transmission lines under the vision impact provision project.”
Hector Pearson, from National Grid, said: “This represents a major opportunity to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife, cultural and environmental heritage of some areas of outstanding natural beauty and national parks.”
National Grid said different ways of reducing the impact in the locations had been considered, but replacing existing overhead lines with underground cables had generally proved to the preferred option technically and in discussion with local stakeholders.
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