Amersham, Buckinghamshire

SSEPD refurbished a 132kV electricity line running from Amersham to Iver in Buckinghamshire. The line is approximately 25km long and has 80 pylons. Dalcour Maclaren was instructed to carry out detailed land referencing along the route to identify all parties involved and to negotiate accesses to each of the 80 pylons.

Brief

• Consents were required for scaffolding structures needed for 14 road crossings, two motorway crossings and one railway crossing
• It was necessary to obtain a range of consents from the Environment Agency and Natural England
• Footpaths had to be closed, requiring consultation with the county council
• Easements were negotiated with various parties to allow enabling works to take place
• Contractors and landowners were consulted throughout the scheme to ensure it was delivered on time
• The negotiation of agricultural compensation was carried out by Dalcour Maclaren
• Our client received regular updates

Risks

• Failure to find landowners due to large amounts of unregistered land
• Inflexible time constraints due to set outage periods
• Difficulties with landowners, reluctant to facilitate access
• Reliance on other utilities companies to complete enabling work without disruption to schedule
• Issues resulting from the crossing of numerous water courses in different locations, including potential pollution and irrigation
• Disruption to motorists and businesses by the closure of the busiest motorway in Europe

Solutions

• Land referencing and extensive ‘door-knocking’ to identify all land owners
• Consulting with landowners at an early stage
• Excellent communication with government bodies such as The Environment Agency and Natural England
• Regular meetings and discussions with contractors, our client and landowners
• Landowners were kept updated throughout the scheme
• Access issues were recognised at an early stage so that measures could be put in place to avoid or mitigate problems