| 2015-06-24 |    |
National Grid Pylon Disruption to Hit Cumbria
The National Grid has made the decision to run a line of 50m pylons through Cumbria connecting the new Moorside nuclear plant in West Cumbria to the National Grid.
Here Thomas
Armstrong, Associate Director at H&H Land and Property,
comments on the news:
“It’s no surprise that this is a controversial decision being so
close to the Lake
District National Park. Over the years there have
been many debates arguing the merits and disadvantages of overhead
power lines, and it would appear that the argument about ease of
construction and the cost against environmental and visual impact
looks set to rumble on. As land agents, it’s our job to help clients
manage the practical process and deal with compensation once schemes
are constructed. We also try to mitigate the practical effects on
landowning clients affected by what is a major national infrastructure
project.”
© Copyright Philip
Halling
and licensed for reuse under this Creative
Commons Licence
H&H Land and Property are already acting on behalf of many landowning clients on the route corridor. However as Thomas says there is still uncertainty over the route: “Although the preferred route has been announced it is a corridor that is between 1 and 3 Km in width, so even though the National Grid has said it intends to follow the existing Electricity North West lines, there is still no certainty about actual works or route within that corridor.”
The National Grid timescale going forward will include more consultation through 2015 and 2016 to identify the exact route of the line before submitting a planning application in 2017. This is what the National Grid call finding the "route alignment". Throughout this period it is essential that landowners with any concerns about how the scheme may affect them should take professional advice and make representations direct to the National Grid.
Thomas adds:
“This is the time to try and influence the exact route,
as opposed to waiting until the decision and application has been made,
when it will be significantly more difficult. In our experience early
representation on proposed schemes such as this has a better chance of
success.”
Depending on the exact consented route, construction is not scheduled to start until 2019 with completion by 2024. This will be the time when there is likely to be most practical disruption to those landowning clients who would be affected. Leading up to that, again it is recommended that early engagement with the National Grid on the practical works and issues such as access, timing etc are always worthwhile.
H&H Land and Property is one of the largest firms of chartered surveyors and specialist rural advisors in the North of England, and they have considerable experience in dealing with such schemes and minimising the potential impact to landowners.
