ELECTRICITY pylons in Rayleigh are being removed to make way for a £31million project to improve supplies.

The final stage of the UK Power Networks scheme to make the supply more secure for thousands of customers in the town is under way.

 

Part of the Rayleigh countryside will be transformed, as five miles of overhead power lines, carrying 132,000 volts, and more than 30 pylons, will be removed.

The pylons have been a part of the town’s skyline for more than 50 years, but ward councillor Chris Black believes their loss will make little difference.

He said: “This has been on the cards for years and they are a bit late in doing it. We lose pylons and gain mobile phone masts.”

The pylons take power from a National Grid substation to a UK Power Networks substation, which supplies customers in the Chelmsford, Colchester and Fleethall areas of Essex.

As part of the seven-year project, new equipment has been installed allowing the company to reroute power supplies, which means the lines are no longer needed.

Nick Hyde, who has been leading the project for UK Power Networks, said: “This major investment will improve the security of supplies for tens of thousands of customers who are served by this part of the network.

“Investing in new equipment will mean a boost in reliability now and into the future.

“While overhead lines are reliable andavital part of our network, on this occasion, once the new equipment was installed, the lines became redundant, so could be removed.”

Work has already started to remove the pylons, which are owned by both UK Power Networks and National Grid. It is anticipated that by the end of next year, nearly all the pylons and overhead lines, which stand up to 30 metres high next to the A130, will have been taken down, leaving just one overhead line running alongside the railway.

Also included in the work is the removal of six pylons and their overhead lines from Wheatley Wood, which have been replaced with underground cables.

This site is owned by the Woodland Trust and engineers have worked closely with the organisation throughout the project.