Consultation to begin on next stage of £18 million Shropshire power line
A formal consultation on the next stage of the £18 million scheme to increase electricity capacity across north Shropshire will begin next month.
Scottish Power Energy Networks, which is behind the work, said it will allow communities and stakeholders to view the proposed project design and provide feedback.
The upgrade will benefit Oswestry, Wem and Whitchurch as well as surrounding villages.
It will will include a new 132,000-volt overhead power line built between Oswestry and Wem. The line will run between Oswestry substation, located at the A5/A495 roundabout, and the Wem substation, in Ellesmere Road, on the western side of the town.
It is hoped construction on the new line will start by 2020 and take about 12 months to complete.
The consultation phase will be followed by a formal application in 2018 for government consent for the route.
Paul Ferguson, a spokesman for SP Energy Networks, said: “Our last project newsletter was in May 2017 and since then we have been concluding our environmental assessment work, continuing discussions with affected landowners and reviewing any feedback received.
“We remain on programme to commence the next major milestone in the project which is our formal consultation this November, where we will invite local communities and stakeholders to view our proposed project design and provide feedback.
“The consultation will include local events and is proposed to continue until early February 2018.
“We would like to take this opportunity that ahead of the consultation, if anyone has not previously been in touch and would like to register an interest."
Scottish Power Energy Networks said the new power line will provide additional capacity to support business investment and new residential developments across the region.
It said the new 132,000-volt wooden pole line is the most appropriate solution after investigating a number of options for reinforcing the network.
It plans to build the new overhead line using a wood pole Trident design – a design which it said is a tried and tested, constructed most recently for reinforcing the electricity distribution network between Legacy substation and Oswestry substation.
It has particularly been keen to get feedback on the preferred line route in terms of its location and limits, and the likely environmental impacts of the preferred line route and its associated construction works, such as storage areas for equipment.
Initial consultation events were held in Whittington, near Oswestry, Wem, and Cockshutt and Hordley, both near Ellesmere.
Contact the Scottish Power Energy Networks project enquiry lines on freephone 0800 804 4666 or by emailing enquiries@spennorthshropshire.co.uk
