We are carrying out essential maintenance work on the 400kV overhead electricity transmission line between Lovedean in Hampshire and Bolney in West Sussex.
Project overview
We are refurbishing sections of the 64.5km overhead line between Lovedean and Bolney, replacing fittings on pylons and repairing steelwork where necessary.
The route, made up of 190 pylons with two circuits, begins at our substation in Lovedean and runs close to the South Downs National Park, to our substation at Bolney.
We are refurbishing each circuit separately to allow electricity provision to be maintained when the power is turned off on one side of the pylons. There will be no disruption to the supply of electricity while this work is carried out. Works are expected to be complete by Autumn 2025.
We are committed to investing in the ongoing refurbishment of our network to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of our customers and communities for years to come. This maintenance work is needed to ensure a continued, reliable supply of electricity to homes and businesses.
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What you can expect to see
While the refurbishment is ongoing, you can expect to see work to establish access routes, repairs to pylon steelwork, and engineers working at height to replace the fittings. Our working hours will be between 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The work will be carried out by Morgan Sindall, on behalf of National Grid.
We don’t anticipate our work causing any major disruption, but you may hear some noise while we are working or notice some construction vehicles in your local area.
Works to local roads and footpaths
To ensure that the refurbishment works can take place safely we will occasionally need to temporarily close local roads, footpaths and bridleways where they intersect with the overhead line route.
All such closures and temporary traffic management plans are planned and scheduled following conversation and agreement with the relevant local authority and are required to ensure the safety of both members of the public and our team whilst these essential works are taking place. Pedestrians and road users will be required to follow the signposted diversion in the area.
For further details, including dates and maps of upcoming, road, footpath and bridleway closures please visit our FAQs page.
Temporary stop and go measures
Over the coming months you may also see some temporary ‘stop and go’ traffic management measurements put in place on local roads located next to the overhead line. These measures are required to enable our team to access working sites and drop off equipment safely. They are not expected to last any longer than 15 minutes at a time and will cause minimal disruption.
Work to date
To enable the first stage of refurbishment, we undertook inspections of each of the pylons to assess their condition. This required the site surrounding each pylon to be prepared, which involved clearing vegetation to enable safe access. All vegetation clearance was undertaken in line with guidance and consent provided by the relevant authorities.
Now this initial period of vegetation clearance and site inspection is complete, our main works have begun.
What’s next?
We expect these main works to be complete by November 2025. To find out more about what our main works are, visit our FAQs page, also linked below.
Keeping you informed
We will update this webpage as we progress through the project to let you know where you might expect to see our team working. For some areas, updates will be provided by email or post before we start our work.
Frequently asked questions
Visit our frequently asked questions page where you'll find answers to the most common questions we're asked.
Contact us
If you want to find out more about the project or have any questions, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 0800 998 7802 (between 9am and 4:30pm, Monday to Friday).