Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity network that powers everyday life for 8 million customers across 3.9 million homes and businesses in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire is about to invest a further £2.6 million to improve the reliability and resilience of the electricity network serving Bradford.

In September 2019 the company began a three-year £30 million scheme of work to upgrade the electricity network serving around two thirds of Bradford’s homes and businesses by replacing around 132km (82 miles) of the existing network of underground cables dating back to the 1960s in the west of the city. This scheme is now being extended to deliver improvements to the network serving a further 50,000 people by replacing another 17km (10.5 miles) of cables along a 2.8km (1.7 mile) route to the south of the city.

This work will ensure that the local electricity network is capable of meeting the existing demand for power as well as any future increase in demand as the population grows and more people swap to using electric vehicles, solar panels and heat pumps.

Starting in mid-July 2021 and running until Spring 2022, this latest work will involve excavating in the road and/or footpath to lay a new electricity circuit along Staithgate Lane, Staygate Interchange, the A6177 Rooley Lane/Mayo Avenue/Chase Way/Birch Lane, then back along Rooley Lane to Rook Lane, Compton Street, A650 Tong Street slip road and into Factory Street.

Northern Powergrid and Excalon, the company delivering this work on Northern Powergrid’s behalf have worked closely with Bradford Council to agree the best times for the work to take place. Multiple teams and extended working hours will be operated to speed up the delivery of the work and key sections of the route will be completed during school holiday periods to reduce disruption.

Most of the work will be completed using temporary multi-way traffic lights, although some roads will need to be partially or fully closed.

Initial sections of work are as follows:

• The southbound lane of Staithgate Lane from the junction of Staygate Interchange to around 100 metres past the junction of Dean Beck Avenue will be closed from Monday 19 July 2021 for up to three weeks. The northbound lane leading from the junction of Merrydale Road/Transperience Way to Staygate Interchange will remain open. A signposted diversion will be in place along Merrydale Road, Wharfedale Road, Rockhill Lane, Bierley Lane and A6177 to Staygate Interchange.
• One lane of Chase Way and Birch Lane West will be closed near the Cedar Court Hotel and multi way traffic lights will also be in operation from Monday 26 July 2021 for up to four weeks.
• There will be a combination of lane closures, multi-way traffic lights and out of hours working along Rooley Lane from the Asda Roundabout to the junction of Rook Lane from Monday 26 July 2021 for up to six weeks.
• There will also be lane closures and multi-way traffic lights in operation on Rooley Lane from Staygate Interchange up to the Asda Roundabout in both directions from early August 2021 for up to six weeks.
• From September 2021, work will be ongoing along Rook Lane, Compton Street, Tong Street slip-road and Factory Street, with further details to be announced in the near future.

Work is also ongoing to carry out the company’s main engineering work on roads in and around Heaton, Manningham and the city centre, with sections of work on Toller Lane, Heaton Park Drive, Heaton Road, Oak Lane, Manningham Lane and Station Road scheduled to be finished by the end of August 2021. Most of this work will be completed using multi-way traffic lights although a section of Heaton Park Drive from Branksome Crescent to the junction of Heaton Road will be remain closed the end of July, with a signposted diversion in place along Heaton Road, Highgate, Leylands Lane and Toller Lane.  

This will mostly complete the company’s work in this part of the city, although they will need to return in Summer 2022 to remove equipment associated with the old electricity network in the area.

Sharon Incerti, Project Manager, Northern Powergrid said: “The additional £2.6 million investment in Bradford will extend the benefits of the work we’ve been completing to the west of the city since September 2019, ensuring that more people benefit from having a safe, reliable and resilient power network that supports everyone’s needs, both now and in the future. 

“We’ve experienced a lot of patience and support from the communities we’ve been working in over the past couple of years. We can promise our customers in and around Staygate Interchange that we’ll be doing all we can to minimse the disruption of our work by working as quickly as possible, doing as much as we can outside of peak times and making sure that we communicate directly with everyone directly affected by the work so that they are able to plan ahead as much as possible. We’ll also be keeping local councillors and regional media fully up to date with what we’ll be doing and when.”  

While Northern Powergrid is not planning to turn off the power as part of this programme of work, it does have a free Priority Services Membership scheme for anyone who may need extra support in a power cut due to their medical or personal circumstances. By joining, individuals can access a range of additional services. To find out more visit northernpowergrid.com/care or call 0800 169 2996.

Anyone wanting to find out more about the investment work can also visit the new Bradford section on the Northern Powergrid website at northernpowergrid.com/bradford, contact Northern Powergrid’s customer care team by calling 0800 011 3332 or by email generalenquiries@northernpowergrid.com  The network operator is also available 24/7 on Facebook and Twitter.       

To translate information into another language, people can click the Accessibility icon at the top of all Northern Powergrid’s web pages or call its language line on 0800 389 8204.

People who find it difficult to speak or hear can use text phone 0800 028 9507 or text relay: dial 18001 followed by 0800 169 2996.

Those who are visually impaired can click the Accessibility icon at the top of Northern Powergrid’s web pages to change font sizes and colours or click the Recite Me icon to have information read out to them. People can also sign up to receive communications in larger print or Braille by calling the Powergrid Care Team on 0800 169 2996.