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Norwich to Tilbury
Proposals, programme and next steps
Our proposals include the construction and operation of approximately 183km of the transmission network between existing substations in Norwich, Bamford, and Tilbury, and a new 400kV substation in Tendring, to connect to new offshore wind generation.
Our current proposals comprise mostly of overhead line and pylons, along with some underground cables from Flowton to Bramford substation, from the Capel St Mary area through the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and continuing to the proposed new substation near Lawford, and in the Great Horkesley and Fairstead areas.
Cable Sealing End (CSE) compounds would be required to connect sections of underground cable with the overhead lines. Each CSE compound would be fenced and would contain electrical equipment, support structures, a small control building and a permanent access track.
We are proposing the new substation site to be located in Tendring District, known as the East Anglia Connection Node (EACN). It would connect clean energy from offshore wind generation so it can be transported to homes and businesses. It would be fenced and would include a permanent access road and parking areas. It would contain high-voltage electrical equipment, such as transformers, circuit breakers and shunt reactors, support structures and control buildings.
Work would be required at the existing 400kV substations at Norwich, Bramford and Tilbury.
Since our 2022 consultation we have:
undertaken further technical work and carefully considered the consultation feedback
developed a preferred draft alignment which shows potential positions for pylons, overhead lines, underground cables, and cable sealing end compounds
developed our proposed preferred site for the new substation at Lawford.
As a result of consultation feedback and further assessments we have made the following changes to our proposals:
diverting to the East of Wortham Ling before re-joining the preferred corridor to the south-west of Diss
diverting to the east, south of Offton, then paralleling the existing 132 kV overhead line route to the north and east of Flowton to Bramford substation, referred to as North of Flowton
an alternative route to the north and east of Notley Enterprise Park and at the northern edge of the Dedham Vale AONB, referred to as West of Great Wenham
straightening the draft alignment slightly West of Writtle
an alternative route Further east of Ingatestone.
There are also areas where the preferred draft alignment would be routed within an area thought less likely within the 2022 draft corridor, as was shown by the graduated swathe.
The proposed draft alignment is shown for each district council area, with a summary of what has changed both inside and outside the preferred draft corridor that we shared at our consultation in 2022. More information on the changes and how we have progressed the project design since the 2022 non-statutory consultation is available in the Design Development Report 2023.
Our current consultation ran from Tuesday 27 June until Monday 21 August 2023. We will now collate and analyse all feedback received and take this into account as we refine the Project design. We will then prepare and publish an additional Feedback Report, which will summarise the feedback we have received and outline how we carried out both consultations that will have been held by this point.
Consultation is important to us as it allows members of the public to influence the way project is developed by providing feedback and to help local people understand better what a particular project means for them, so that concerns resulting from misunderstandings are resolved early. It also helps to identify potential mitigating measures to be considered.
Statutory consultation on our proposals
We expect to hold a statutory consultation on our proposals in 2024. This will outline how feedback from the non-statutory consultations has informed the project and provide more detail on Norwich to Tilbury.
After we have completed this consultation, we will collate and analyse all feedback received and take this into account as we refine the Project design. We will then prepare and publish a Consultation Report, which will summarise all the feedback we have received and outline how we carried out both the non-statutory and statutory consultations.