Towns and villages in Norfolk must not be surrounded by towering pylons just so Essex and London can get electricity, angry county councillors have told power company bosses.
Norfolk County Council is to send a strongly-worded response to National Grid about the company's plans for a 112-mile line of pylons stretching from Dunston, near Norwich, to Tilbury on the Thames estuary.
The Conservative-controlled council said Norfolk's towns, villages and landscape should not have to suffer from having almost 90 50 metre pylons built over miles of countryside.
The response is to the latest consultation around the project, which has sparked widespread controversy, with criticism from campaign groups, MPs and other councils.
The county council, in its response, said its preference was for the cables to go under the sea, rather than through Norfolk, something National Grid has previously said would be too costly.
READ MORE: Pylons 'could harm historic buildings in south Norfolk'
But the council said if that was not possible, then the cables should go underground - and Norfolk should get some of the power, rather than it all being used in London and Essex.
Graham Plant, the council's cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, said: "If it goes as planned by the power company, Diss will be completely surrounded by towers and cables.
"Transferring energy from one area to another should not be at the cost of our towns, villages and landscape.
"Using the strongest possible words and terms, we need to say that if this is coming through Norfolk we need power from it and it needs to be underground.
"None of the power will be used in Norfolk or Suffolk. We need some of that power to be retained in our county for our growth. It cannot all be about Essex."
In July, all 60 county council members present at that month's council meeting backed a Tory motion criticising the scheme.
National Grid has said the scheme is needed to increase supply as demand increases.
It had said an offshore grid would be costlier to energy bill-payers and have less capacity than an overhead route.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here