Going Underground 

We use what they carry every day of our lives, but how often do we take actually  notice of overhead electricity lines? In some areas they can be very obtrusive – for example over the top of a hill or through a village – but now help is at hand.  

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) and the electricity companies must demonstrate extra care in their work to help conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Parks and AONBs. With this in mind, OFGEM have made an allowance for electricity companies to claim additional expenditure when putting overhead wires underground for visual reasons in AONBs  and National Parks.  

Following meetings with electricity companies, the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service contacted each parish within the AONB and asked for overhead lines that were felt to be obtrusive to be nominated for potential undergrounding. It was agreed that overhead lines within the village should be the first lines to be assessed as they would provide an immediate improvement to the local setting and were of lower voltage and therefore, easier to underground.   

The process has been a long one but in September 2006, Normanby Road and Church Street in Nettleton became the first streets within the AONB to have their overhead electricity lines undergrounded. It has been a learning curve for us all, with issues neither ourselves nor Nettleton Parish Council had envisaged. Many of the older poles housed electricity, telephone lines and street lights. At present, BT do not have the same polices as OFGEM and the electricity companies, which means that telephone poles and wires still remain part of the street scene. Work is being undertaken at a national level to change this mindset and at a local level on individual schemes. Street lighting was also a issue, with a given standard of light often needed within a village setting.   

Even though the work created more than a few problems, we would like to thank Nettleton Parish Council and the residents of Normanby Road and Church Street for their hard work, patience and support in this scheme. We think that all parties have learnt from the process and, we’d like to think, the results have been worthwhile.  

We are currently waiting to hear which villages may be next for ‘Going Underground’.