Across Lincolnshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, local leaders are calling on the Government to protect food security and rural communities.
The councils say the pace of change will lead to poor decision-making, with pylons and onshore renewables leading to the loss of valuable farmland, the destruction of homes and tourism.
The council leaders say slowing the transition to net zero by just five years will make other options like underground cabling cheaper – cutting the impact on communities and farmland.
Under National Grid proposals, energy generated by wind farms off the coast of Scotland would travel through seabed cables to Lincolnshire. From there, they plan to build a network of pylons running through Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, to Tilbury in Essex – covering a distance of more than 200 miles.
In Lincolnshire, an 87-mile line of 164ft high electricity pylons would run through the countryside, from Grimsby to Walpole, just over the Norfolk border.
National Grid insist that installing pylons along the east of England is the cheapest option. But the councils argue that the Grid have failed to provide enough evidence that the have fully explored and costed the different ways that energy generated in Scotland can be transported to the south.
Local leaders across eastern England believe that undersea or underground options would be much better, with significantly less impact on rural communities.
Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, said: “We recognise the need for alternative types of energy and the importance of decarbonisation and meeting net zero targets.
“But this need for change cannot come at the expense of rural communities across the east of England, who are not being listened to in this rush to meet environmental targets.
“National Grid appears to have given no consideration to compensation for farmers and homeowners, the cost and impact of additional infrastructure like roads to support this new pylon network, or the economic impact on tourism on the east coast and in areas of natural beauty.
“This is why we're working together to urge National Grid and the government to properly consider alternative ways of bringing offshore energy onshore, to put the communities that will be most impacted at the heart of their decision, and to recognise that pushing ahead with their plans as they stand will have a huge negative economic, ecological and environmental impact on our rural communities.
“These are impacts that could be significantly reduced, if only more consideration were given to alternative solutions.”