Rural community could be hooked up to grid at last

My family have been campaigning for mains electricity for many years

Supporter

PLANS have been lodged that could see properties in one of Northumberland’s most rural areas connected to the electricity grid for the first time.

Northern Powergrid has outlined plans that could see mains electricity delivered to properties in Upper Coquetdale in the Coquet Valley, Alnwinton.

The firm is looking to install overhead lines that will be intercepted by interconnecting underground cables in the Northumberland National Park, which will secure an electricity supply to offgrid properties and three emergency cell masts.

The plans have been lodged with Northumberland National Park for consultation before being submitted to the Secretary of State of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for a final decision.

The application has already received numerous letters of support with one person writing: “I thoroughly support connecting electricity to homes in the Coquet Valley, my family have farmed there for over 60 years and have had to manage on a diesel generator and power minder batteries, which is ridiculous in this day and age, the cost of running generated electricity is astronomical.

“My family have been campaigning for mains electricity for many years, I hope at last this will be happening, although I will not benefit as I have retired from the business.”

Another wrote: “There are many homes across rural Northumberland that were never connected to the mains electricity grid many decades ago because it was just too expensive.

“Many of those properties are farms and the people who live in them work to put food on your table. And now we seem to have a breakthrough in that the first of these areas – Upper Coquetdale (beyond Alwinton).

“I urge you to approve this scheme, our rural community deserves to be on grid after all these years.”

There are believed to be around 350 families across Northumberland living off-grid, with many unable to use washing machines, hairdryers, showers or freezers. Campaigners say children are bathing in streams and doing homework using headtorches, while people struggle with basic household tasks. Families are being quoted thousands of pounds by power companies to be connected to the grid.

Rothbury councillor Steven Bridgett said residents and organisations have been working for many years to address the issue.

He added: “And now we seem to have a breakthrough, in the first of these areas – Upper Coquetdale (beyond Alwinton). May soon be connected to mains electricity and in doing so, deliver a mobile phone signal to one of the most remote areas in the UK.

“This cannot be achieved without friends and neighbours coming together to support this project and these residents. The application will eventually be determined by the Secretary of State but at the moment, the application is currently lodged with the Northumberland National Park Authority for consultation.

“A lot of hard work has gone into making the project a possibility and all that I ask of you all, is if you would support this application and take the time to email the Northumberland National Park Authority telling them that you support this project and why it is important.”