National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Ron
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 9:07pm

Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by Ron »

Psamathe wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 1:51pmThey are cutting/clearing a area 100 m wide along the length (although certainly the road will be narrower). I guess it will be beside not under).Ian
The cleared areas that I have seen are centred on the the line of the overhead conductors, it's useful to have that area cleared when pulling in new or replacement conductors and provides a protected zone which can prevent damage to the power line in event of forest fires.
Carlton green
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by Carlton green »

The area adjacent to the path of the distribution route will be cleared for a variety of practical reasons, and only some of that clearing will be intended to be permanent.

Existing pylons do not have permanent paths beneath them so why new ones would is a mystery to me. Similarly giving the public easy access to pylons is a daft idea (some clown will do something stupid); forging rights of way across farm land will create multiple issues; and then we have the issue of the route crossing rivers, roads, canals and railways.

I would love to see long distance cycle routes and hate the fact that cyclists are pushed off of the road by motorised vehicles. Unfortunately the best that we can hope to achieve is to demand that every new road should have pavement ‘attached’ to it such that shared use (vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists) of the route is possible.
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
Psamathe
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by Psamathe »

Carlton green wrote: 25 Sep 2024, 3:44am ...
Similarly giving the public easy access to pylons is a daft idea (some clown will do something stupid); forging rights of way across farm land will create multiple issues; and then we have the issue of the route crossing rivers, roads, canals and railways. ...
Existing pylons around me already have easy access (next to roads and footpaths (PROW) with no fences around them.

Some of the land will be being compulsory purchased (as it can't be restored), farmer in TV the other evening saying he didn't want the land back.

Re: bridges and rivers - so don't make it continuous, just sections that can link in to other cycle routes.

Ian
awavey
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by awavey »

Psamathe wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 11:25am
axel_knutt wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 11:14am Presumably the plan is to reinstate the land as close as possible to the way it started once the work's finished, hence the NG attitude that the pylons aren't a major intrusion. I doubt pylons bother the wildlife as much as they bother humans, and I expect the route will be chosen to avoid centres of population as far as possible, too.
My understanding is that NG are cutting a 100m wide track the entire length. My understanding is the road will remain after construction.

That said NG have been accumulating documents since 2020 and it's apparently more than a full time job to trawl through them (most being irrelevant). NG do not seem to respond to e-mail inquiries about their proposals (beyond pointing you to their web site which says nothing.

Ian
yep they basically build a road along the route of the cabling/pylons to support all the heavy equipment they need to build the pylons/cabling, then leave the road because its too expensive to go back to pulling it all up,in some places they might just dump a few inches of top soil on it to pretend its not there, but the road is still there, and their theory seems to be eventually without maintenance nature will take back the road anyway.

and no doubt confuse the heck out of Time Time in the 2300s.
awavey
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by awavey »

Pete Owens wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 2:01pm
Nearholmer wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 11:36am Hard to believe.

Why would they do that?
Quite. What is easier to believe is that NIMBY objectors might make such stuff up in order to whip up opposition. No line of pylons I have ever seen has involved a track running the length of it. If they were to bury the lines underground then they would need to dig up a continuous strip of land, but this would soon revert to previous conditions.
how or whether they built such things in the past, is apparently lost to peoples memories,but they certainly do build these roads as I saw locally when Scottish Power cabled up their first East Anglian wind farm, I never had the guts to do it but I know people who did ride the length of the route, it wasnt tarmac all the way but it was a surprisingly decent amount of route across countryside, which absolutely would have made a good cycle route.

now they never came back and dug up that road completely, its still there, with some odd looking random junction spurs connecting with "real" roads that seem to go nowhere the only sign it existed, as for the majority of it they just dumped some soil back on it to "hide" it and within a year or two nature has regrown around it.

so just because you cant see these things today, doesnt mean they werent there in the past, or that they could have been repurposed.

not that they ever will because it would cost money, and everything about these cabling/pylon projects is about least cost efforts.

you just have to look at their approach to building Sizewell C.
cycle tramp
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by cycle tramp »

Pete Owens wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 2:01pm
Nearholmer wrote: 24 Sep 2024, 11:36am Hard to believe.

Why would they do that?
Quite. What is easier to believe is that NIMBY objectors might make such stuff up in order to whip up opposition. No line of pylons I have ever seen has involved a track running the length of it.
20241006_115515.jpg
So here's the track under the new pylons... its not un-rideable., and fairly easy to follow :-)

Here's a map
20241006_115530.jpg
Whilst it doesn't go directly through any village or town, it passes close enough to several of them to make a useful path..
Unlimited economic growth in a world of finite resources doesn't fit nor does it guarantee happiness.
rjb
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Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by rjb »

My understanding on this is that NG don't own the land under the pylons but pay a nominal rent to the landowner. The agreement with the landowner covers access to maintain the assett. The track is laid to install the assett but is owned by the landowner. To make it permanent may require the landowner to apply for planning permision which is why the land is often returned to it's prior use. :wink:
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Ron
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 9:07pm

Re: National Grid New Pylon Routes And No Cycle Path

Post by Ron »

Not National Grid, but interesting to hear about Viking Energy providing leisure paths on one of it's windfarms. It would be difficult to stop walkers and cyclists using the tracks, but good to see their use being encouraged.
https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2024/09/30/v ... -cyclists/
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