The proposed reinforcement is around 29 km and includes the building of new pylons, some underground cables and a ‘grid supply point’ (GSP) substation. We would also take down 27 km of existing pylons and overhead lines.

Our proposals include:

• up to 18 km of new 400 kV overhead lines
• up to 11 km of new 400 kV underground cables
• four cable sealing end compounds to connect overhead line and underground cable sections together
• removal of around 25 km of existing 132 kV pylons between Burstall Bridge and Twinstead Tee
• removal of around 2 km of existing 400 kV pylons south of Twinstead Tee
• a new grid supply point substation at Butler’s Wood, to connect the local distribution network into the National Grid.

Although we included the grid supply point substation within our application for development consent, we also submitted a separate planning application to build the substation. This application was approved in October 2022 and construction on the substation started earlier this year. We sought separate planning permission for the substation as building it now could help speed up the overall construction programme.