'Moorabool Shire Mayor David Edwards said the council was pushing for the powerlines to go underground.

"For council to say, 'We just want the project to go away', that's not reality," he said.

"The project will go ahead … but what we've got to do is make sure it's the least impact to the community.

"The negative impact shouldn't be borne by regional Victoria just to feed metropolitan Melbourne. We've been very clear about that."' by Lisa Martin-ABC Ballarat.