Part of the Mendip Hills AONB is to be pylon free for the first time since the 1960s.

National Grid is installing 8.5 km of 400,000-volt underground cables from the new cable sealing end (CSE) compound at Loxton, south of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, north towards a new substation at Sandford.

National Grid’s Hinkley Connection Project will bring low carbon energy from Hinkley Point C to six million UK homes and businesses and will also allow for more capacity on the network for renewable energy from the South West peninsular.

The work is more than 60 per cent complete, with most of the cables expected to be in place by the beginning of 2022.

The removal of the existing WPD pylons between Bridgwater and Sandford is due to be completed by 2022, leaving this part of the Mendip Hills pylon free for the first time since the 1960s. The entire Hinkley Connection Project is due to be completed by 2025.