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, has announced the dates for the final stages of its £3.3 million investment to improve the reliability and resilience of the electricity network serving Skelton, Saltburn and Marske.
The electricity distributor has already successfully completed a £1.7 million programme of work to upgrade the network that supplies Skelton and in mid-October 2019 it started phase two of the programme.
Scheduled to run until spring 2020, this final phase sees the company investing a further £1.6 million to improve the reliability of the electricity supply in Saltburn and Marske by replacing its existing assets with more modern equipment, including smart technology.
This includes upgrading 7.1km of underground cabling, dismantling 800m of overhead power lines and replacing four time-served pole mounted substations with two more modern ground mounted substations. The company is also installing 14 remote control switches, which will provide greater flexibility to electricity around the network and restore power more quickly if there is a power cut in the future.
Between October and December 2019, Northern Powergrid completed its work along Cat Flat Lane bridleway, Longbeck Road and the A174 between Longbeck Road and the A1085 roundabout. It also brought forward its planned work along Quarry Lane so that it could reschedule its work on the A1085 and Meadow Road until after Christmas.
From January to the end of April 2020, Northern Powergrid will be working to the following schedule:
- 6 January till mid-January - Vicarage Drive/Hummershill Lane/Southfield Road
- End January – mid February - A1085/Meadow Road
- February/March - Construction of two new substations – Marske Nurseries on Longbeck Road and Marske Lights on the corner of the A174 and A1085
- Mid February – early/mid- March - A1085 to A174
- March - Marske Road to Larkfield Estate
- End March to end of April - Larkfield to Ox Close, Saltburn
The work will involve excavating in the road, footpath or grass verge.
Northern Powergrid is not planning to close any roads although two-way traffic lights may be in operation and temporary barriers will be in place while the work is carried out. Pedestrian access to homes and businesses will be maintained at all times and the electricity distributor will work with businesses to ensure they can make arrangements to continue to receive deliveries and gain emergency vehicle access. There may be short-duration planned power cuts for a handful of customers, but Northern Powergrid will provide notification well in advance of these taking place.
Northern Powergrid is committed to keeping local people and other key stakeholders informed. The company will continue to issue letters and leaflets to all those directly affected providing details of the exact dates each section of work will take place. A social media campaign will also be running to make local people, businesses and commuters aware of the important work being carried out by Northern Powergrid to ensure that the local community has a safe and reliable power network for years to come. Further information can also be found on northernpowergrid.com.
Jon Eggleston, Northern Powergrid’s Regional Manager for Teesside, said: “We’re extremely pleased with progress on this scheme of work to date, having completed the first sections of the route either on or ahead of schedule. This means we’ve been able to update our planned schedule for early 2020 - we were due to work on the A1085 and Meadow Road in Marske during December, but we worked on Quarry Lane instead so that we could avoid digging in a residential area in the run up to Christmas.
“We know how important a safe and reliable power network is in supporting the local community, businesses and visitors to the area, so this is an important next step in our investment programme for the area. We’re on the home run now and will be working as quickly and efficiently as possible in the early part of 2020 to ensure the full programme is completed with the minimum possible disruption for our customers and the local community.
“We’ll also continue to liaise closely with local residents and businesses as well as Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and local councillors so that we can keep them updated on how we’re delivering on our commitments.”
Anyone with a general enquiry about the investment work can contact Northern Powergrid’s customer care team by calling 0800 011 3332 or by emailing generalenquiries@northernpowergrid.com.
