The IPC publish a log of all advice that they issue, the following is an extract from that log from a meeting between the IPC and NG on 2nd Feb 2010
Query
A meeting to discuss progress with National Grid’s proposed application for an electricity transmission line in Somerset (Hinkley to Seabank).
Advice
Advised National Grid (NG) about the risks of identifying the initial choice of route options and then setting out the case against undergrounding or an undersea route, without explaining fully why (in NG’s view) they should not be taken forward. This approach could be seen by other parties as predetermining the choice of a route(s) and cloud the approach of all to any subsequent consultation.
Advised that the limited correspondence that the IPC has been copied into so far suggests that substantially more work needs to be done to increase the level of understanding in the respective local communities about the environmental, cost and technical implications of undergrounding the line and / or the undersea route. Advised that NG may wish to consider resolving this issue before embarking upon the second stage of consultation, and identifying the preferred route.
Advised that whilst the advice being given was not in any way judgmental on the part of the IPC, the position appeared to be an impasse in relation to the adequacy and appropriateness of the consultation to date. The IPC could not and should not get involved in the merits of the approach taken by NG. However, it would be willing to facilitate, if all parties agreed, a meeting to identify and clarify the extent and nature of concerns and objections by relevant parties and the public to the consultation and approach of NG. It would be for the parties to try and reconcile their apparent differences, the IPC remaining neutral in any meeting.