Beauty spots to lose unsightly power lines in £1.6m scheme

The power lines, which sprung up across the county in the 1950s and 1960s to help provide electricity to deeply rural areas, have long been considered a blight on North Yorkshire’s landscape.

Safety concerns have also been raised in some places where vegetation was growing into the power lines.

A scheme to begin removing the power lines and install underground power cables to replace them, was first started by CE Electric UK in 2005.

Now a fresh raft of locations across the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales and Nidderdale and Howardian Hills Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), are being considered for work to take place.

Caroline Skelly, planning policy officer at the North York Moors National Park Authority, said 16 locations have recently been submitted to CE Electric UK after a wide-ranging consultation with villages in the area.

“This work can make a huge difference”, she said.

“Big strides have already been made and we are hoping this good works continues.

“These are big schemes and make a big impact.

“We hope to do everything we can to make sure these changes take place.”

The new locations put forward in the North York Moors include removing overhead lines at Farndale East, which have long had a detrimental impact on the famous tourist attraction the Farndale Daffodil Walk, where visitors follow a carpet of wild flowers alongside the River Dove.

Other areas include Lastingham, Coxwold, Greenhow and Hinderwell.

Funding for the new works is part of a £7.5m scheme announced by CE Electric UK in 2005 to install underground cables across the region. The scheme was first piloted in the village of Terrington, in the Howardian Hills AONB, before being rolled out across some of North Yorkshire’s most prominent tourist areas, such as Reeth, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Paul Nicholson, CE Electric UK project manager for the National Parks Underground Programme, said: “It can make a significant difference to the quality of the landscapes in these areas.

“These submissions have been put forward to us by the national park authorities and residents themselves who have the knowledge of the area and landscape.

“This is a small proportion of overhead power lines, but the ones that are being selected are where the biggest impact will be made.

“It is quite a complex process installing the underground cables depending on the location of the villages themselves.

“Some of these schemes have involved quite a bit of engineering work but we are working with local authorities and residents to keep disruption to a minimum.”

As part of previously planned work, overhead power lines are soon to be removed at Swainby and Levisham, in the North York Moors and Carperby, in Wensleydale.

Other work, to install underground cables at Egton, Appleton-le-Moors, Aislaby, and Thornton-le-Dale, in the North York Moors, has been authorised by CE Electric UK and is currently in the design stage.

Many power lines were erected across vast swathes of the British countryside in the 1950s and 1960s as it was an easier way of providing electricity to rural communities.

Power lines in towns and cities were often dug underground when they were first installed.

CE Electric UK will now consider the latest submissions to decide where the work should take place over the next five years.

A spokeswoman said: “We are committed to working with our communities in order to protect and continuously improve the wider environment.”