Wayleave payments

[dudders]

I get a nice little cheque from UK Power Networks this time of year for their several poles coming over my land. Seems a bit unfair really, as those poles are only bringing power to me, but I won't complain!

It makes me wonder though about the main sewers that I also have running through the farm - they're just as much of a pain as the power poles, in fact more so, as there are about 20 manhole covers to steer clear of. Whilst you'd be pretty unobservant to hit a pole, it's easy to forget a manhole cover, with possible nasty consequences. Does anyone know whether there's any payment available for this?

I was peeved when they decided the main sewer wasn't big enough and put another one alongside it, instead of replacing the old one. So doubled the number of manhole covers...

 

[Manny]

It would be nice to get the ones for the power poles but the landlord gets these and he never has to work around them.

 

[Steevo]

I expect the sewer will have been done based on an easement rather than a wayleave. Thus there would have been a one off payment made at the time of install, and a right granted forever and a day.

 

[dudders]

Guess I'd better check - no payment was made for the second sewer, perhaps piggybacking on the easement granted for the first, if there was one.
The huge amount of housebuilding in the local town at the top end of the sewer means they're likely to need a third line in due course. So I'll have 30 manholes instead of the original 10...

 

[Steevo]

Guess I'd better check - no payment was made for the second sewer, perhaps piggybacking on the easement granted for the first, if there was one.
The huge amount of housebuilding in the local town at the top end of the sewer means they're likely to need a third line in due course. So I'll have 30 manholes instead of the original 10...

Might be worth seeing if when you negotiate the third you could get them to remove the first two and replace with just the one larger one.

 

[steveR]

I know of one Farmer, no names, no pack drill, who bought a modest farm under which ran a massive sewer, put in during the 70s. There were also several (maybe 4) large 1.5m manholes, about 800mm above ground level at the top.

After a couple of years of occupation, he knocked the top off all of them and relocated the biscuit and manhole access under ground, presumably below plough depth!

The Engineers were most bemused when they came checking the sewer a few years later!! No manholes to allow access in sight.... Quite bizarre really. But one way to deal with the problem...

 

[Ted M]

I had a slight misdemeanor with a telegraph pole back in the summer.
The merest of contact coupled with a pole that could have done with replacing, (the neighbours have been on to western power for 3-4 years about the state of the line) resulted in a £3500 bill for 7 blokes to sit in their pick ups for an afternoon to do 2 hours work.
We have appealed and are awaiting a response.
A farming friend has since told me we can request that they remove their poles and line off our land as there is no compulsory purchase involved and they merely rent the land they stand on.
Anyone else heard of this?

 

[Steevo]

I had a slight misdemeanor with a telegraph pole back in the summer.
The merest of contact coupled with a pole that could have done with replacing, (the neighbours have been on to western power for 3-4 years about the state of the line) resulted in a £3500 bill for 7 blokes to sit in their pick ups for an afternoon to do 2 hours work.
We have appealed and are awaiting a response.
A farming friend has since told me we can request that they remove their poles and line off our land as there is no compulsory purchase involved and they merely rent the land they stand on.
Anyone else heard of this?

You can bet your life if the boot was on the other foot they would be doing a runner as quick as possible......! It's a culture that exists within such industries for some reason.

Do they pay you an annual sum for the poles? If so, it is a wayleave and may likely be able to be terminated with 12 months notice.
If not, and a previous owner has taken a lump sum then no.

Either way, the new Electronics Communication Code has made this 1000x harder to do. Utility companies (phone, fibre, phone masts) are considered to be critical infrastructure providers and can almost run rampant having been entrusted with "Code rights", the premise being nothing must hinder the new 5G or superfast broadband etc.

The sad fact of the matter is that the real hindrance of such things is not wayleaves etc. but inefficiencies within the utility companies themselves, yet they seek to pass the buck and hoodwink the government into believing they are long suffering entities that are constrained in their work, so they themselves don't need to look at their own bloatedness. (as illustrated by your 7 blokes in pickups comment).

Is it a case that utility companies are too big to fail, and a bit like the banks the government cannot afford for the country to be without them?

 

[steveR]

I had a slight misdemeanor with a telegraph pole back in the summer.
The merest of contact coupled with a pole that could have done with replacing, (the neighbours have been on to western power for 3-4 years about the state of the line) resulted in a £3500 bill for 7 blokes to sit in their pick ups for an afternoon to do 2 hours work.
We have appealed and are awaiting a response.
A farming friend has since told me we can request that they remove their poles and line off our land as there is no compulsory purchase involved and they merely rent the land they stand on.
Anyone else heard of this?

Usual way of reporting such incidents is "goose hit the line".... or similiar!

 

[Surgery]

I had a slight misdemeanor with a telegraph pole back in the summer.
The merest of contact coupled with a pole that could have done with replacing, (the neighbours have been on to western power for 3-4 years about the state of the line) resulted in a £3500 bill for 7 blokes to sit in their pick ups for an afternoon to do 2 hours work.
We have appealed and are awaiting a response.
A farming friend has since told me we can request that they remove their poles and line off our land as there is no compulsory purchase involved and they merely rent the land they stand on.
Anyone else heard of this?

steevo is right in what he says.

the fact is if you get a wayleave on the poles you can terminate this , secondly if you are getting paid wayleave make sure this pole is one your getting paid for , remember they need you more than you need them unless the line supplies your holding.

I would ask for a wayleave officer from the power supplier to come out and go through all the poles etc on your farm etc , chances are your not getting paid on some as was the case here , surprised what was paid and got done here.

 

[chaffcutter]

Being ‘urban fringe’ with our land surrounding the village means we are crossed by power lines in several places. One line in particular has regular problems despite poles being recently replaced, and a few weeks ago they had to come in to a fault over a sown field. We can’t stop them but I asked them to stick to one track down the headland as far as possible.
Well the next day you would not believe the state of the field, they had just driven down the line of the poles with several vehicles, some of which were stuck, and a digger which had made even more mess. We agreed to pull them out just so that some other fool might make more mess, but it’s going to take a lot of putting right when it eventually dries up. The saving grace is that their wayleaves Officer is good to deal with and so we will get a decent payment for it, I just hope that the men on the ground get a good rocket for being stupid enough to go on with lots a vehicles when the ground is so wet. Not a living brain cell between them if you ask me.

 

[Steevo]

Being ‘urban fringe’ with our land surrounding the village means we are crossed by power lines in several places. One line in particular has regular problems despite poles being recently replaced, and a few weeks ago they had to come in to a fault over a sown field. We can’t stop them but I asked them to stick to one track down the headland as far as possible.
Well the next day you would not believe the state of the field, they had just driven down the line of the poles with several vehicles, some of which were stuck, and a digger which had made even more mess. We agreed to pull them out just so that some other fool might make more mess, but it’s going to take a lot of putting right when it eventually dries up. The saving grace is that their wayleaves Officer is good to deal with and so we will get a decent payment for it, I just hope that the men on the ground get a good rocket for being stupid enough to go on with lots a vehicles when the ground is so wet. Not a living brain cell between them if you ask me.

Sad thing is the difference between making a complete and utter mess.....and not making a mess is probably only 1% difference across the whole job.

That means they don't need to change as the consequences of their actions are almost negligible.