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

Our proposals include:

• up to 18km of new 400kV overhead lines
• up to 11km of new 400kV underground cables
• four cable sealing end compounds to connect overhead line and underground cable sections together
• removal of around 25km of existing 132kV pylons between Burstall Bridge and Twinstead Tee
• removal of around 2km of existing 400kV 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.