Public consultation draws to a close

24/02/2010

National Grid is reminding residents in south Suffolk and Essex that they have until 28 February to comment on proposals for a new overhead electricity transmission line between Bramford, near Ipswich, and Twinstead, south of Sudbury.

The company is consulting on four potential ‘route corridors’ – stretches of land within which an overhead line could be located.

National Grid has been asked to connect a number of new generators to the system in East Anglia. In addition, significant potential wind farm development has been identified off the East Anglian coast. With the existing high-voltage network in East Anglia running at capacity, National Grid needs to build a new 400,000 volt (400kV) overhead line.

National Grid senior project manager Jim Street said: “The opinions of local people will play an important role in the decisions we make so we would urge people to give us their views on the route corridor options before this first phase of consultation closes on 28 February.

“We will be carefully considering all the views we receive before making a decision. Once we have identified a preferred option further consultation will be carried out until we apply for a Development Consent Order to the Infrastructure Planning Commission in 2011.”

Members of the public can send their comments to National Grid by:

Freepost RRK/EBGK/XXHT, 
Bramford to Twinstead 400kV overhead line project, 
Consultation Response
PO Box 5689
London W1A 4FG

-Ends-

For further media information only, please contact Sara Wilcox, National Grid Media Relations, on 01926 655272

Notes to Editors:

National Grid
National Grid is an international electricity and gas company and one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. We play a vital role in delivering gas and electricity to millions of people across Great Britain and northeastern US in an efficient, reliable and safe manner. We believe the power of action can play a major role in safeguarding our global environment for future generations and tackling the effects of climate change, providing all our customers with the highest standards of service through network investment and through our talented, diverse workforce.

National Grid owns the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales and operates the system across Great Britain. It also owns and operates the high pressure gas transmission system in Britain and its distribution business delivers gas to 11 million homes and businesses.

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