REVISED plans to bury electricity pylons underground have sparked fears that it could lead to the “destruction” of the New Forest.

Residents Josh Lavis, Nigel Morane-Griffiths, Peter Gear, Doug Gemmell and Richard Carter addressed a packed Hale Village Hall on Tuesday to outline concerns over the National Grid’s Visual Impact Provision project, which aims to reduce the visual impact of overhead lines at Hale Purlieu.

A petition against the plans was signed by 103 people.

Speaking of the response to the petition Mr Lavis, who chaired the meeting, said: “This, I believe, gives us the mandate to go forward and represent the local community in our pursuit to stop National Grid from pursuing their proposed under grounding of the high voltage cables, leading to the destruction of a protected area for many years to come.”

Concerns raised during the meeting centred on the lack of consultation, extensive damage and disruption to Hale Purlieu and surrounding area, including the environmental impact on the landscape and wildlife, the short life of the cables and ongoing maintenance, as well as traffic and road closure concerns and the timescale of the project.

Mr Lavis, who chaired the meeting, said: “We believe the National Grid’s proposal does not meet any of the requirements needed for planning approval.

“We have to ask ourselves does the destruction of Hale Purlieu warrant the moving of the pylons?”

On its website National Grid says the revised route “deviates to the north of the original route to avoid crossing a sensitive area of mire in the valley to the west of Hale Purlieu”

One resident said the pylons were “beautiful” and feared once plans were on the table they would go ahead “regardless of the real costs”. He called for “careful and realistic” environmental impact studies to be done so “we know what we are letting ourselves in for”.

But they were described by another as a “big eyesore” and that removing them would make it a “much nicer place to walk on” for subsequent generations.

Another resident added: “For the benefit of the tourists our little corner of the Forest is going to be destroyed.”

Residents were told a meeting is taking place next month for parish councils in the area to meet with National Grid and other relevant groups. And public consultation events are due to be held.