Electricity board wanting to change overhead cables to underground.

[teslacoils]

That’s the problem I have no where near any time to stand and watch them do this. Some of the land has bee drained at huge expense so I wouldn’t trust them to patch them up either.
I have a fibre optic cable moled in for about a mile which was done somewhere over ten years ago which isn’t the agreed depth and has been dug up more than once, that’s where I’m estimating the danger to be fair.

I recently went through a water pipe I was assured was adequately deep. Moled it into 22 pieces. Sigh.

If you have drainage plans, they may be able to route it differently with this in mind. I'm putting in a new pipe at the moment (1m deep) and considerable effort is going into routing it to avoid / minimise damage to drains. So it can be done .

Agent, concerns, freebies.

 

[mo!]

Ironically we have just had a repair done on an underground cable running across our land. The engineer on site wants to look at changing it to overhead. They will have to come up with a very good package to swap, too many poles here already!

 

[steveR]

We've just had a new underground 11000v cable put across our ground. Right cock up from day one, contractors had no regard for our property, fences damaged, gate posts hit, gates left open, rubbish left in feilds, crops driven over outside the agreed working area, reinstatement was shocking, subsoil left on surface, crap job of fencing and walling. In the end kicked up a fuss and got them to pay me to do the fencing and get my own waller in. We've also been paid to repair tracks they damaged and strip off the top 1ft of the trench in places and replace with top soil as we were ploughing up subsoil/crushed rock. All they wanted was to get from A to B as fast as possible and fudge everything that slows them down. Had to check on them every morning and night. Pointers for you: keep a diary of time spent dealing with them even down to 30 second phone calls etc. Ask to check their drain repairs and be notified when they come across one. Check the trench when they're not around for signs of unreported drains and take plenty of photos and lastly, be a ba*stard, let them get away with nothing, make it clear its your land.

Cannot agree more with this post!

You need to be on the Contractors from before they arrive on site. Then monitor and record everything that is in breach.

Looking back on my experiences now, I think it would almost pay to have someone monitoring the Contractors full time. £100/day for a month for a Student with a camera and notebook....

 

[Still Farming]

Wayleaves on under ground cables lot less too I think?

 

[livestock 1]

Wayleaves on under ground cables lot less too I think?

Ha what a surprise

 

[steveR]

I’ve been approached by the electricity board with the view for them to change overhead cables to underground. They have told me that they have received a huge amount of money to do this some of this applies to land we own. Their reason was for visual impact and they said that repairs would be less and easier which isn’t easy to believe 100%. When I asked them what sort of payment could be expected for our side she said it was a set payment by means of way-leave.
Has anyone had experience of this? Does anyone know what sort of payment to expect? Can I stop them?
Obviously this will all be bundled up for my agent to deal with but any experience from anyone would be appreciated.
There is a lot of overhead lines and some of the land is ploughable and some is pasture.

Making good drains is one of my bugbears. I insisted on a new parallel 6" stoned drain be put in at the same depth as the ground works to catch all the broken drains they dont reinstate. Next time, it will be one either side!!

All top soil to be stripped back and placed on the previously agreed working strip, that is fenced by Contractor. They hate this in my experience, but if you dont do this, all manner of shite and subsoil will be at ploughing depth when they have finished!!

Working area to be subsoiled after groundworks are completed, but BEFORE topsoil is reinstated.

Close and regular checks on depth. Pay someone to monitor this???

Cannot remember what I was told now is the procedure, but make sure that you can have the cables moved if the ground is developed in the future, at the electrical distributors expense. Your Agent should know this...

 

[livestock 1]

Making good drains is one of my bugbears. I insisted on a new parallel 6" stoned drain be put in at the same depth as the ground works to catch all the broken drains they dont reinstate. Next time, it will be one either side!!

All top soil to be stripped back and placed on the previously agreed working strip, that is fenced by Contractor.

Working area to be subsoiled after groundworks are completed, but BEFORE topsoil is reinstated.

Close and regular checks on depth. Pay someone to monitor this???

Cannot remember what I was told now is the procedure, but make sure that you can have the cables moved if the ground is developed in the future, at the electrical distributors expense. Your Agent should know this...

Can I tell them to do one?

 

[steveR]

Can I tell them to do one?

Never dealt with DNO's, so dunno. No doubt there are all sorts of wangles they can invoke....

 

[4course]

drains !drains !!drains!!! they will feck them, Now we always insist on a fenced off working width , top soil removed to a safe area and reinstated ,a drain outwith the fenced area prior to erection to catch all laterals and any drain broken to be repaired and stoned across the full width of their working width.This year has proven the above as bits we trusted them naively with years ago stand out, over the last 20 odd years weve had gas, sewerage, and electric all of whose contractors try to cut corners so be vigilant is my advice and use a good agent ,One of the best bits of advice I was given years ago was if the top of their letters has more filled in with partners names and their quals than there is to write on against the one you are dealing with from the other side you are better armed

 

[steveR]

drains !drains !!drains!!! they will feck them, Now we always insist on a fenced off working width , top soil removed to a safe area and reinstated ,a drain outwith the fenced area prior to erection to catch all laterals and any drain broken to be repaired and stoned across the full width of their working width.This year has proven the above as bits we trusted them naively with years ago stand out, over the last 20 odd years weve had gas, sewerage, and electric all of whose contractors try to cut corners so be vigilant is my advice and use a good agent ,One of the best bits of advice I was given years ago was if the top of their letters has more filled in with partners names and their quals than there is to write on against the one you are dealing with from the other side you are better armed

Nothing to disagree with here at all! ?

 

[steveR]

The moral of this Thread?

Never, ever ever trust a Contractor employed to carry out work on your land by any Utility company....

 

[Brisel]

Can I tell them to do one?

No. They have statutory powers for most of the utilities except mobile phone masts. They can use these as a last resort. Get a good agent with experience of dealing with utilities and get them to push as hard as they can.

 

[Farma Parma]

Approx 6years ago we had 11,000 HV line put underground here along edge of a arable field & part dug & part bored under a small stream upto the nearest Overhead Pole passing us.
to be honest very little damage was done to either thats now after this length of time untraceable.
I used a local Land Agents expert on these wayleaves etc etc & got paid a decent sum i thought for the piece of land some 4metres in the arable field
i had to leave for 6months bare. The Cable was to reach something to do with the East Coast Railway which runs thru the land here.
The Grass field part didnt really give much trouble. it was less intrusive.

 

[livestock 1]

Electric board been back around again with more people for another look. They are pushing hard for this but at the same time talking any compensation down.
I have a good agent. He likes the far end out of things.

 

[steveR]

Electric board been back around again with more people for another look. They are pushing hard for this but at the same time talking any compensation down.
I have a good agent. He likes the far end out of things.

Hope the Agent is now doing all the talking the Electrical people... make him earn his money.

 

[livestock 1]

Hope the Agent is now doing all the talking the Electrical people... make him earn his money.

I have a few working for us here as they specialise in different things. Bloody expensive but I think they always have been. Can’t do without them here

 

[steveR]

I have a few working for us here as they specialise in different things. Bloody expensive but I think they always have been. Can’t do without them here

No, expert advice is not cheap, but at least teh Agents bill will be paid for you this time...

 

[livestock 1]

Hope the Agent is now doing all the talking the Electrical people... make him earn his money.

Spoken to a few of my neighbouring farmers and they aren’t keen on the idea whatsoever.

 

[steveR]

Spoken to a few of my neighbouring farmers and they aren’t keen on the idea whatsoever.

Maybe not, but as Brisel points out, sometimes you have no choice if the Company can invoke statutory powers. Best to talk...

 

[Harrysfergie]

Who is the network operator out of interest? The main issue is you will be being paid a wayleave for existing poles and overhead so there is access for repair and maintenance and obviously any new cable route will include this. Old poles will have to be removed classed as hazardous waste now and conductor will be weighed in. There may well be some movement or sweetener for yourself such as upgrade to three phase etc remember they need you. Is there not a compromise as in part buried part overhead or a more suitable route round headland etc.