Will they save Minster Marshes?
The campaign Save Minster Marshes is about to hit crunch time as Kent’s most controversial energy project keeps pushing ahead.
The National Grid’s plans to put a substation on a massive industrial site covering more than 22 acres right in Minster Marsh are not without objections. That’s not stopped them doing “prep work” long before the permission has been rubber-stamped.
At the heart of the campaign’s concerns is the proposed converter station on Minster Marshes — a 100ft tall building on a flooding marsh, requiring 40,000 lorry loads of aggregate, a 1km haul road with 27 water crossings, and deep foundation piles in a high water table environment.
The marshes sit adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), support 37 red-listed species, and contain some of the most significant archaeology in Britain — including the likely landing site of St Augustine in 597AD and Caesar’s marching camp.
Save Minister Matrshes
The campaign to stop this plan points out that it runs through The North East Kent Marine Protected Area (NEKMPA), which contains:
- Thanet Coast SAC & Sandwich Bay SAC (Special Areas of Conservation)
- Thanet Coast & Sandwich Bay SPA (Special Protection Area)
- Thanet Coast & Sandwich Bay Ramsar — Wetland of International Importance
- Thanet Coast SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest)
- Sandwich & Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve — Kent’s largest
- Thanet Coast Marine Conservation Zone
Since 2023, almost 17,000 people have signed a petition started by the Save Minster Marshes group, calling on the Secretary of State to pause the project to allow time for research into alternative sites for the southern landfall of the Sea Link in Kent.
Is huge National Grid project on Minster Marshes already a ‘done deal’?, KM Online
Will they save Minster Marshes, or will demands for cheaper electricity for our AI overlords lead to what some are calling an act of environmental vandalism?
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