Appeals board annuls Landsnet's operating licence, says mayor

Voided today Adjudication panel
Environment and Natural Resources An operating permit issued by the City of Hafnarfjörður to Landsnet for Lyklafell Line 1. Laying of the Lyklafell Line
1 has been a prerequisite for the removal of the Hamranes lines and the relocation
Ice lines. There were the Lava Friends and the Nature Conservation Association.
South-West Land which appealed the grant of the implementation permit. „The ruling is a setback for the municipality and it is clear
The decades-long wait for the lines to disappear from Skarðshlíð and Hamranes is drawing to a close.
not subject to this ruling. Now, Landsnet must answer as to how they
to take that project forward but it is clear that this cannot wait and the townspeople and
The local council want these lines removed. We have a meeting with them tomorrow morning.
at nine o'clock, where, among other things, clear answers will be demanded on
“to be continued," said Haraldur L. Haraldsson, Mayor of the Borough of Hafnarfjörður, but
The Municipality of Hafnarfjörður has invested in major development in the area, along with
landowners in the area, but approximately 520 dwellings are planned for the Skarðshlíðar neighbourhood.
on its own, and a basic school, nursery and music school are being built there, along with
a sports hall for around four billion kronor.

Seems
the annulment of the implementation permit should first and foremost be based on the assumption that
unless it is demonstrated that underground cable options are not viable and a comparison of
their environmental impacts and the main alternative have not been carried out in that way
as provided for by law. The line has been on the implementation schedule of the system plan.
2015-2024 and therefore approved by the Energy Authority. The project had also undergone
through environmental impact assessment.

 „We
We will now move on to examining the council's position on this matter and the next steps.
This is not the news we had hoped to receive from the arbitration panel. As soon as we
We are not downplaying the concerns of the complainants.“

As has been previously stated,
The struggle of Hafnarfjörður's municipal authorities to have the Hamranes lines moved.
from a settlement within the municipality had long been ongoing. In 2009,
a signed agreement between Landsnet and the City of Hafnarfjörður. In those
The contract provided for the relocation of the Hamranes line in three phases which was to
to commence in 2011 and be completed by 2017 at the latest. On 25 October 2012
It was clear that this would not work out, and so an addendum was signed.
between Landsnet and the City of Hafnarfjörður where it was stated that the demolition
The Hamranes line and relocation were to begin no later than 2016 and be completed no later than
but 2020

„It was so at the beginning of this
of the term of office, a new agreement was signed between
Hafnarfjörður Municipality and Landsnet, where we considered it to be too far.
to wait until the year 2020 for the lines to go,“ says Haraldur. The contract states
In another article, the Hamranes line is to be torn down by the end of 2018. It is clear
Given this ruling, this will not go ahead. „ Since a new
Since a contract was signed in 2015, the local authorities have been campaigning to
“that the agreement would be honoured and the work would begin," says Haraldur.