National Grid needs to expand its network of high-pressure natural gas pipelines through Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

The proposed Honeybourne-Wormington pipeline will be 900mm (36 inches) in diameter and will run for 10km, from National Grid's above-ground installation at Honeybourne to our compressor station site at Wormington. This essential project is needed to accommodate changing gas flows in the area.

Plans for the Wormington-Sapperton pipeline, which was to run for 44km from the Wormington compressor station to our above-ground installation at Sapperton, have been postponed.

The proposed Wormington-Sapperton pipeline was planned to help meet growing demand for gas in the west of England. However, revised forecasts indicate that demand for gas in the region is not rising as fast as expected, so the pipeline is not needed in the immediate future.

National Grid withdrew its application for consent to build the Wormington-Sapperton pipeline on 20 December 2007, but will keep the situation under review.

Gas transmission pipelines must undergo a rigorous process of consultation and environmental appraisal before consent to construct can be granted by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly Trade and Industry).

An Environmental Statement was included with our application for consent to build the Honeybourne-Wormington pipeline, which was submitted to the Secretary of State on 12 January 2007.

A separate Environmental Statement and application for consent for the Wormington-Sapperton pipeline was submitted on 20 February 2007. However, this application was withdrawn on 20 December 2007 for the reasons explained above.

The proposed Honeybourne-Wormington pipeline will be designed and built to the same high standards of safety and security as the other 6,800km (4,160 miles) of high-pressure gas transmission pipelines already in operation across the UK.

The new pipeline will be buried underground throughout its length, allowing us to reinstate the land to its original condition when work is complete.

A map of the proposed pipeline route is included with the non-technical summaries of the Environmental Statements on this website.