Electricity pylon removal

[K8ygo]

Good morning!  I'm new to this group but it looks like a wealth of knowledge so I'm hoping to be able to glean some of it!  My partner, who is a recently retired builder, and I are looking to buy our first house together and want a project!  The house we are interested in is a new build but unfinished.  What puts me off is a large old style steel electricity pylon (PV 70 it says?) that overshadow the house, although it is outside the boundary.  The cables run over the land.  There is also a wooden pole carrying HV cables i think, which is in the garden.  I am trying to find out more about the feasibility of removing the steel pylon and putting the cables underground, but I haven't had much success yet!  We don't know whether to put an offer in on the house or not because of this issue.  My gut feeling is that it would be too expensive to get rid of the pylon.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of this?  I'd be very grateful for thoughts.  Thank you.

Edited February 24, 2022 by K8ygo

[ProDave]

Can you post a picture of the pylon?

 

I suspect the chances of getting it removed is about 0.  My neighbour has a 205kV overhead line on a temporary wayleave that has expired passing over his garden.  Several years ago he told me he had served the 1 year notice to remove the cables.  They are still there and in fact the line was re conductored recently, so his attempt to remove it failed.

 

The wooden poles and cables can probably be undergrounded but you will have to pay the costs.

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, K8ygo said:

The house we are interested in is a new build but unfinished

Welcome

 

Have you read the comments on here about developer new builds?

 

Easier to have look at other places.  Or make a ridiculously low offer, then move it on.

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, K8ygo said:

The house we are interested in is a new build but unfinished

That is unusual to find.  WHY is it unfinished?  for sale by a developer (very strange) or an individual (very sad)

[K8ygo]

Thank you for responses.  The builder plans to finish it I think but we thought we would make an offer to finish instead.  I'm disappointed but not surprised to read from ProDave that the chance of getting the pylon moved is about 0!  This is the best photo I have unfortunately.  But it has 3 cables.

Quote

 

 

[ProDave]

Yes that pylon is not going anywhere.  If there are deficiencies in any wayleave agreement, they will sort them out with some ££££ which I am sure is what happened with our neighbour.

[K8ygo]

? 

[K8ygo]

Its such a shame because I love the house but think I would always hate the pylon and worry about the health risks of it as well as the aesthetics.  Thanks for your knowledge.

[recoveringbuilder]

I successfully had overhead cables removed from above a plot I owned free of charge as they had no wayleave however this pylon is not on land belonging to the house is it? So I don’t think you’ll be able to have it removed unfortunately 

[SteamyTea]

14 hours ago, K8ygo said:

worry about the health risks

There are not any, unless it toppled over when you are underneath.

[PeterW]

The HV pylon network is part of the Critical National Infrastructure so is exempt in a number of areas from items such as wayleaves. Getting a pylon removed would be near impossible unless it was deemed dangerous and in all likelihood it would just get replaced like for like. 

[richi]

On 24/02/2022 at 18:56, K8ygo said:

worry about the health risks of it

Don't. The media scare a few decades ago was down to the inability to separate correlation from causation.

 

Diseases of deprivation were found to be more prevalent in areas near pylons, but that's due to the fact that areas near pylons are more likely to be deprived—not that the pylons or EMF were causing the diseases. Occam's Razor, and all that.

[joe90]

On 25/02/2022 at 09:48, SteamyTea said:

There are not any, unless it toppled over when you are underneath.

I am not convinced of that, I went to look at a lovely cottage in Shropshire to do up and it was very lovely but national grid type pylons either side and cables directly overhead, it was on the market for many years.

[ProDave]

6 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I am not convinced of that, I went to look at a lovely cottage in Shropshire to do up and it was very lovely but national grid type pylons either side and cables directly overhead, it was on the market for many years.

That's because people that want to buy a lovely cottage in Shropshire don't want to sit and look at huge pylons, and listen to the lines humming, fizzing and crackling when it rains. Not because they think it is going to harm them.

[SteamyTea]

Or they think, by some unproven magic, that it will harm them.

I have a power line pole outside my house. Luckily it distracts from the pretty awful house below.

[Adrian Walker]

Unless you are part of a way-leaves agreement, then it going to be to expensive to move (£1,000,000+).  That said the house prices would have reflected that.