Information for landowners

When developing proposals for network upgrades, we need to understand who has a legal interest in the land in and around the areas being considered as part of the projects.

In the DCO process, anyone with a legal interest in land is known as a Person with an Interest in Land (PIL). If you are identified as a PIL, we will contact you directly.

Whilst much of the information we need to confirm a legal interest on is available on public registers, we have appointed land suppliers Ardent to contact individual landowners to verify the publicly available information and ensure NGET has have made best efforts to identify any potentially impacted landowners. Ardent operates across multiple sectors, providing land and consenting advice to support the promotion and delivery of major projects in the UK and Ireland.

More information regarding National Grid’s land rights and payment schedules, can be found here.

Ardent will also assist with contacting landowners and occupiers to arrange access for non-intrusive and intrusive surveys which we plan to carry out whilst we develop the proposals and prepare the application for a development consent order.

More detailed information for landowners, along with relevant contact information can be found on the landowner page of our project website.

If you are a landowner and believe your property may be affected by our proposals, and want to talk to our lands team, please email [email protected] or call 0203 302 0545 or write to: EGL 3 and EGL 4, Ardent, 36 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5JL.

Surveys

To understand more about the local environment, and to inform the environmental impact assessment, we need to carry out surveys. These will be on land within the corridor, on some adjoining land, and areas that may be identified through consultation feedback as potentially sensitive.

These surveys are to assess the landscape, ecology and cultural heritage aspects of the area, to inform further detailed environmental assessments. All survey information gathered has been published either as part of our Preliminary environmental information report or will support our application for a development consent order.
 

Ongoing surveys

Below is a list of our ongoing and upcoming surveys. If for any reason a survey cannot take place on the scheduled date, such as poor weather conditions, we will endeavour to reschedule the survey in a timely manner.

Access to land plots are agreed before any surveys may take place. If you are a landowner and have questions about the surveys on your land, please email [email protected] or call 0203 302 0545 or write to: EGL 3 and EGL 4, Ardent, 36 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5JL.
 

Date

Survey 

Location

Description

January 2025 onwards 

Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) Survey

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

The survey consists of accessing land by foot and using a hand auger to take a soil sample down to describe the soils. A small number of soil pits will be dug using a spade to assess some of the topsoil characteristics in representative soil types. All materials exposed is then returned to the hole immediately following description of the profile. 

January 2025 onwards

Ecology UK Hab, PEA walkover surveys

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

Undertaken by pairs of surveyors. The survey is an initial assessment of the ecological features present, or potentially present within a specified area. It includes the mapping the habitat types present and recording condition of habitats present. It also assessing the suitability of habitats for protected or priority species and recordings sightings of invasive non-native plant and animal species.

March 2025 onwards

River Condition Assessment (RCA) and Ditch Assessment

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

A pair of surveyors will walk the length of a watercourse, drains and ditches, to gather information on the characteristics of the watercourse/drain/ditch to inform a condition assessment. 

January 2025 onwards

Hedgerow Survey

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will undertake a detailed hedgerow survey via walkover to establish character and condition of the hedgerows in the area.

January 2025 onwards

Badger Survey

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will undertake a detailed walkover survey via walkover to identify field signs of badger and identify the presence of badger setts.

January 2025 onwards

Breeding birds

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland 

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

During on-passage bird survey, undertaken between September and October (autumn passage) and February and April (spring passage), two surveyors will look for any on-passage birds; all calls and behaviour will be recorded. These will include foreshore and field counts.

January 2025 onwards

Bird transects & Intertidal Bird Surveys

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey

A pair of surveyors will conduct walked transects or stationary vantage point surveys along the coastline to spatial distribution and activity information of waders and wildfowl on the intertidal shorelines and sea surface. Information will be collected on OS maps or digital devices.

April 2025 onwards

Otter and Water Vole Surveys

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

Surveyors undertake targeted field surveys for potential otter breeding sites and resting places and bankside and in-channel searches for water voles. Subsequent monitoring may be required. This may comprise walkover surveys, boat-based surveys and/or deploying cameras for remote wildlife monitoring. Field signs recorded include the presence of latrines, burrows, runs, footprints, feeding remains, dropping and sightings.

January 2025 onwards

Great Crested Newt (GCN) – Habitat Suitability within 50m buffer 

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will undertake a visual inspection of waterbodies to assess the suitability (such as geographical location, presence of other ponds nearby, presence of fish, presence of waterfowl) to support great crested newts. 

May 2025 onwards

GCN – eDNA Survey

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

The survey will consist of surveyors collecting water samples from the waterbody for processing in a laboratory to determine the presence / absence of GCN. The samples will be collected on a one-day site visit during the day.

January 2025 onwards

Bat – preliminary roost suitability surveys/PRA

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will undertake a visual assessment of trees from ground level to assess for their suitability to support roosting bats. 

April 2025 onwards

Bat Roost – preliminary aerial tree-climbed inspection 

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

The survey will be undertaken where the GLTA identifies trees with PRF or is unable to confirm their absence from the ground. The survey will also involve certified climbers using ladders or specialist roped-access equipment to further inspect target trees.

April 2025 onwards

Bat Roost – dusk emergence surveys 

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

The survey will involve identifying the presence of bats leaving/entering any roost at dusk emergence. Specialist acoustic equipment with surveyors standing in view of specific PRF will be utilised. These surveys will commence before dusk until at least 2 hours after sunset. This will occur on 1 to 3 nighttime visits (the visit may take multiple nights depending on the size of the land surveyed, number of buildings/structures/ trees and number of PRF)

April 2025

Onwards

Bat activity surveys - transects 

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

The survey involving a walkover will be undertaken at night-time. The surveyors will walk a transect route focusing on areas of higher activity. Surveyors will also walk the transect and note bat activity, they will be equipped with bat detectors and torches between April – May, June – August, September and October.

April 2025

Onwards

Bat activity surveys – static detector deployment /collection

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will place static bat detectors in suitable habitat. This bat detector will be left in place for 1-2 weeks and then collected so the data can be analysed.

January 2025 onwards

Environmental   Walkover Surveys

Lincolnshire – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

A pair of surveyors will walk the publicly accessible areas and/or a land parcel looking at the nature of the land and the features within it. The surveyors will records information on a digital device or OS maps and may take photos to support the recorded information.

This survey might include a pre statutory consultation in person walk through with Natural England, between Landfall and Gunby Hall.

March 2025 onwards

Geophysical Survey

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Non-intrusive surveys to detect and map contrasts between buried archaeological remains and the surrounding soil. The geophysical survey will be carried out using a handheld cart or All-Terrian Vehicle (ATV) and will require the use of a standard gradiometer, which will identify buried anomalies of potential archaeological origin at specified locations.

April to September 2025

Noise and vibration survey

Walpole to Wisbech

Two surveyors will install unattended noise and vibration monitoring equipment at up to three secure locations. These will be left for a period of 1-2 weeks, then surveyors will return to collect equipment. Measurements are not seasonally dependent, however are weather dependent so will need relatively dry and calm weather, and would be conducted outside of school holiday periods, peak tourist times and peak harvesting periods.

April to September 2025

Aquatic survey (fish & invertebrates)

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

A non-intrusive walkover survey will be undertaken by a pair of experienced aquatic ecologists walking the full length of a watercourse (or suitable ditch) mapping and assessing the habitat for valuable aquatic features. The aquatic ecology walkover survey will determine whether there is a need for further targeted aquatic surveys (macroinvertebrate, fish and macrophytes).

June 2025 onwards

Drainage Survey

Lincolnshire  – East Lindsey, Boston, South Holland

Norfolk – King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Cambridgeshire - Fenland

Walkover survey to assess the topography of the land, existing land drainage systems and potential outfall locations for mitigation land drainage schemes that may be required by the project. Surveys will be undertaken by a small team on foot who will be aided by handheld GPS equipment. The surveys will occur all-year round, across 1-2 days per site, depending on size of the survey area.  

 

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