National Grid Upgrade

The National Grid Upgrade is a series of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (and some local authority planning applications) facilitating the transfer of energy from offshore wind in the north to areas of demand and further enabling connections to future renewable energy projects.

In Derbyshire, the National Grid is proposing new 50m high 400kV pylons  @ 3 per km in a 60km swathe through the county, from a new substation at Calow, near Chesterfield in the north to Willington in the south.

We have submitted a detailed response to the National Grid’s initial consultation, which can be summarised as follows:

– We are asking primarily for a reconsideration of and public consultation on strategic option EDN-1 Chesterfield to Ratcliffe on Soar.  This is our preferred option and we believe this has been too-readily dismissed by National Grid, based on an incomplete analysis using an inappropriate costs assessment methodology.

– We are extremely concerned about the impact of 50m pylons on the Amber Valley countryside and the many rural villages along the proposed 60km route between Chesterfield and Willington. We have recommended a combination of under-grounding cables and less intrusive pylon types to mitigate significant harm to important landscapes, heritage assets and ecologically sensitive areas.

– Whichever strategic route goes forward to application, we strongly recommend that the National Grid utilises the already developed M1 corridor rather than create a new scar through the Derbyshire countryside, which will have lasting consequences for more than a century.

– Finally, we acknowledge the need to upgrade the national network but would prefer to see a national strategic land use framework which proactively identifies, with community input, the optimum locations for renewable energy and associated infrastructure.   We advocate a rooftop revolution for solar energy and support renewables done well in the right places, close to the points of demand, to reduce the need for inefficient transfer of power over great distances.

CPRE Derbyshire

September 2024