Overhead power lines to the west of Dorchester are to be removed and put underground.

West Dorset planners are being asked to approve the application this Thursday to remove 8.25km of 400kV overhead lines and put new cables underground.

The work was first announced more than a year ago after the power industry won Ofgem funding to remove overhead lines from some of the country’s ‘best’ landscape. Most of the local site is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Lines around Winterbourne Abbas to Friar Waddon will all be removed, including those at Bradford Peverell, Compton Valence, Martinstown, Portesham, Winterbourne Abbas and Winterbourne Steepleton.

The application has been welcomed by parish councils and environmental groups, including the Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

It will see 22 giant pylons removed over 3-4 years. The application says: “The Dorset Project represents a major opportunity to mitigate the visual impact of existing electricity infrastructure within the Dorset AONB and to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and environmental heritage of the area.”

The work will start with the construction of two compounds at either end of the line – one to the north west of Winterbourne Abbas and the Southern Compound to the south of Corton Farm.

Building these, and associated temporary roads, together with putting new lines underground, is expected to take a minimum of three years which will then be followed by the removal of the pylons and overhead lines.

The National Grid says there will be some disruption to roads and footpaths while the work is carried out but diversions will be put in place.

It will also mean the removal of 4.9km of hedgerow and several field boundary trees.

The Environment Agency has put in what is described as a ‘holding objection’ while awaiting further details about the protection of groundwater sources across the site. It says it will withdraw the objection once it has seen the details of the cable design.

Historic England says the removal of the overhead lines will “bring significant improvements to the setting of designated heritage assets in the area, and to the overall historic landscape character of this part of the Dorset AONB.”

Similar comments have come from Natural England: “We consider the proposals will provide a substantive and important long term environmental benefit and we therefore fully support the current application.”

The Dorset AONB team and Dorset Wildlife Trust also back the project as does Winterbourne St Martin parish council although it asks that everything possible is done to minimise disruption to residents during the course of the work.