Understanding Responses to a UK High-Voltage Powerline Proposal: The Role of Place And Project-Based Social Representations

Abstract

In going beyond the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) concept, Devine-Wright (2009)

posited a place-based approach highlighting the role of social representations of place

for understanding responses to energy infrastructure projects. Existing studies (Devine-

Wright & Howes, 2010; Anderson, 2013) have investigated the ways in which

representations of diverse forms of place change are anchored and objectified

symbolically based on existing social representations of place. These studies have

shown that the degree of fit between representations of place and proposed place change

can be seen to inform community responses to different developments. There is

however, a dearth of research investigating the symbolic fit of power line projects

amongst existing representations of the English countryside, despite the fact that such

projects are both highly controversial and key to ensuring delivery of low-carbon energy

policy targets. This paper thus sought to explore social representations of a proposed

power line development in Southwest England and their symbolic fit with

representations of nearby countryside areas, given the increased deployment of lowcarbon

energy infrastructure in this locale. Five focus groups were conducted with

residents of a town in North Somerset, to highlight residents’ co-constructed place and

project-based social representations. Findings from thematic data analysis suggest that

those representing the nearby countryside as replete with existing grid infrastructure

objectified the power line proposal as an acceptable and ‘familiar’ form of place change.

Conversely, those representing the countryside as ‘natural’ tended to objectify the

proposal as industrialising this locale, objecting to it on this basis. This study reveals the

utility of adopting Social Representations Theory to understand responses to proposed

energy infrastructure developments given the UK low carbon transition, and suggests

that grid companies could enhance acceptance by seeking to minimise the ‘industrial’

nature of such projects.