900 asked for help with new Heysham power pipeline

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd with National Grid Executive Director John Pettigrew visiting new underground power cable tunnels in London last November. Similar tunnels could be dug under Heysham for a major new electricity link. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Plans to connect a new nuclear power station to the electricity network at Heysham are gathering pace.

Around 900 letters have been sent out to residents and landowners in Heysham as the National Grid tries to work out the best route for a new power pipeline as part of the North West Coastal Connections scheme.

The letters ask for information about who owns specific properties and land in Heysham.

One resident of Yealand Avenue contacted us after receiving a letter.

He wondered if engineers would need access to his home to lay cables for the new link.

But we understand that the proposed new pipeline is unlikely to affect residential properties because any new tunnels are likely to be deep underground.

The National Grid has said there will also be no new overhead lines at Heysham.

A similar £1bn project to create a new “electricity superhighway” deep below London has used a hi-tec cabling machine boring tunnels 25-35m below the surface.

The new power lines are planned to run from a new 3,400MW power station at Moorside, near Sellafield in Cumbria, under Morecambe Bay and then emerge at Heysham linking to the electricity substation at Middleton.

A National Grid spokesman said the project was still in its early stages.

“We have been working to establish who owns the land the corridor covers along its entire length, not just at Heysham,” said the spokesman. “We have not decided at this point in the project the exact route the tunnel will take within the corridor we have identified at Heysham. We are planning to consult later this year.”