The area where miles of underground cables for a new offshore wind farm could be buried beneath the Norfolk countryside has been narrowed.
Swedish company Vattenfall, which wants to build the Norfolk Vanguard wind farm about 30 miles east of Great Yarmouth, revealed its early plans for the scheme last October.
The company is seeking to bury about 30 miles of transmission cable underground, coming ashore at a point between Bacton and Eccles-on-Sea.
In October, the company outlined a rough area where the cables could be buried, but has now reduced the search area to a 700 metre wide corridor, going around the fringes of North Walsham, Aylsham and Reepham, en route to an existing substation on the edge of Necton.
Ruari Lean, from Vattenfall, said: 'We spoke with nearly eight hundred people last autumn and as a result we have been able to make good progress on the development of Norfolk Vanguard.
'We have managed to narrow the search area for the cable route from what was around 7,000 metres at its widest to 700 metres since the public engagement last autumn.
'That allows us to focus our ecological assessment work.
'We are looking forward to discussing these plans with people in March and then refining the route further later this year with the benefit of more local feedback.'
Vattenfall, which says the Norfolk Vanguard development will generate 1.8 gigawatts, needs to secure consent from the Planning Inspectorate, which has the final say on the scheme.
And Danish company DONG Energy has also been consulting over the route of the cables from another wind farm in the North Sea.
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