PLANS for a 44-km natural gas pipeline through parts of the Cotswolds have been put on hold this week by the National Grid.

National Grid explained that revised figures show gas demand for the West of England is not rising as fast as originally forecast.

It has said the situation will be kept under review because the pipeline, from Wormington in Worcestershire to Sapperton, may be needed in the future.

The decision to postpone the plans, which would have cut through parts of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has been welcomed by the Cotswolds Conservation Board.

Director Martin Lane said: "The board can only welcome the decision to put plans to build the pipeline on hold. We objected to the environmental impact statement for the proposed pipeline because it did not consider an alternative route outside of the AONB.

"At the time we wrote to the Department of Trade and Industry, (now the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) stating our objection and this resulted in a request for National Grid to investigate alternative routes outside the area.

"An alternative route that had a much lower impact on the AONB was identified and should a review of the pipeline lead to the plans being put back on the table the board will be strongly advocating a full re-examination of the options available with an emphasis on routes outside of the AONB."