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, will be working along Heaton Park Drive from the junction of Toller Lane to the junction of Heaton Road during December 2020 and January 2021 as part of its £30 million investment to improve the reliability and resilience of the electricity network serving Bradford.

The investment work, which started in September 2019, is ongoing until the end of 2022 and involves excavating in the road to lay a total of 132km (around 82 miles) of new underground electricity cables with a route length of 17km (10.5 miles).

The company, which is currently working along Toller Lane, will be turning the corner into Heaton Park Drive during week commencing 30 November 2020 and working towards the second junction with Branksome Crescent until 23 December 2020. Multiway traffic lights will be in operation while this section of the work is carried out.

Then from week commencing 4 January until the end of January 2021, the section of Heaton Park Drive from Branksome Crescent to the junction with Heaton Road will be closed so that the company can complete its work along this section. A signposted diversion will be in place along Toller Lane, Leylands Lane, Highgate and Heaton Road. 

There are no plans to turn off anyone’s power as part of this work. Emergency vehicle and pedestrian access will be maintained at all times and Northern Powergrid is writing to everyone directly affected with more information.                                              

A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: “Our contractor Excalon is making great progress with our work in Bradford and is currently ahead of schedule – good news as we’re always very keen to reduce the disruption our work can cause.  

“Closing roads is always our last resort which is why we’re carrying out most of our work along Heaton Park Drive under multiway traffic lights so that we can reduce the amount of time the road has to be fully closed. And, as always, we’ll be trying to finish as quickly as we can.       

“We’d like to thank local people for their ongoing patience while we strive to complete our investment work in the area as quickly as possible. If anyone wants to find out more about why and where our work in Bradford is taking place they can view our new video (available in English and Punjabi) on the Bradford pages of the Northern Powergrid website – northernpowergrid.com/bradford.”

Letters are being issued to all homes and business premises directly affected.

Dates for the next sections of Northern Powergrid’s investment work in the area are to be announced soon.  Anyone wanting to find out more can visit northernpowergrid.com/bradford or contact the company’s customer care team by calling 0800 011 3332 or emailing bradford@northernpowergrid.com. The network operator is also available 24/7 on Facebook and Twitter @northpowergrid.           

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.