NATIONAL Grid plans for a corridor of giant pylons through west and south west Cumbria could cause ‘major damage’ to the Lake District, campaigners have said.

The company announced that, following a consultation, it had chosen the ‘Onshore South with Tunnel’ route to connect the proposed Moorside nuclear power station near Sellafield to the electricity grid.

Bosses ruled out a route running mainly offshore due to "obstacles on the sea bed" and concerns over the use of new technology.

But campaign groups have branded the decision ‘senseless’ and claimed it could damage the Lake District's bid for World Heritage status.

The chosen corridor runs from Harker substation near Carlisle, largely following the path of existing power lines around the Cumbrian coast to Moorside.

It then heads to the Furness peninsula where it goes under Morecambe Bay to emerge at Middleton substation near Heysham.

The proposal includes 12.5 miles of new overhead lines within the Lake District National Park, and another 15 miles of lines and pylons running next to the National Park.

There will be the opportunity for National Grid to take down some existing low voltage power lines owned by Electricity North West and to replace them with its own ‘high voltage’ ones

It means that the coastal section of the National Park, from Ravenglass to Silecroft, and the scenic Duddon Estuary, could be cut through by pylons that, at 50m high, stand at double the height and width of the existing ones.

Friends of the Lake District said it was ‘deeply disappointed’ by National Grid’s decision, claiming it “could cause major damage to the National Park’s amazing landscapes.”

Policy Officer Kate Willshaw said: “The majority of the 1,200 consultation responses, and National Grid’s own environmental study, supported the offshore option.”

The Lake District National Park Authority also expressed its disappointment, with a spokesperson saying, “We are clear that the on-land route in the southern part of the national park will present challenges to managing this special landscape.”

Campaign group Power Without Pylons (PWP), which was set up in response to the National Grid proposals, has pledged to continue its fight.

PWP chair Graham Pitts said: “Firstly we will still continue to press for the onshore decision to be reversed, and secondly push for a range of mitigation measures to reduce the impact of pylons on landscapes, local communities and the tourist economy.

“The public should realise that this is not a done deal but simply one of many stages in a long and complex process.”

At the same time PWP will seek to challenge the reasons National Grid gave for rejecting the offshore solution.

But National Grid Project Manager Robert Powell has defended the decision, saying: “People understand how important it is for us to connect new sources of generation into the grid and the task we face in doing this in a region with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the country.

“There is support for our plan to cross under Morecambe Bay and this would avoid building a connection through the South Lakes."

Following further consultations, National Grid are expected to submit an application to the Planning Inspectorate in April 2017, with a decision expected in October 2018.