Powerline and pipeline developers to pay County Council to hire experts to combat controversial schemes]

The proposed 37-mile Chesterfield to Willington Powerline. Image from National Grid.

Developers behind a planned 37-mile electric powerline and a 121-mile underground CO2 pipeline are to pay a Derbyshire council to hire experts to combat the controversial schemes.

The Peak Cluster Pipeline stretching from quarrying and cement firms in Derbyshire Peak District to Liverpool, and the National Grid’s Chesterfield to Willington powerline, are the county’s two current National Strategic Infrastructure Projects that are set  to be decided by the Government.

Derbyshire County Council’s Reform UK administration has already set its stall out in firm opposition to both schemes, formally opposing the powerline in December and the pipeline in March.

Now Councillor Carol Wood, cabinet member for the environment, has approved decisions to enter into agreements with the developers for both schemes, for the firms to cover the county council’s costs for hiring specialist technical consultants to help defend against the two projects.

The council confirms in decision notices for each scheme that the consultants are to “support the council’s case for objecting to the Development Consent Order (DCO)…and its continued participation in the DCO process for the project”.

This is to avoid the council having to rely on existing staff and pull them away from existing responsibilities, with the authority not currently capable of providing the expertise and time to defend such complex projects, and at pace to keep up with strict timetables and inquiries.

In December, Reform councillor Martin Bromley, who brought the successful motion opposing the Chesterfield to Willington powerline, had said: “We are already having our greenfield sites designated as grey belt, we already have the threat of major solar installations covering our greenfields, we are already being bombarded with the threat of battery storage installations industrialising our greenfields. 

“Now we are facing the threat of super pylons tearing through the heart of our countryside. Derbyshire and especially our countryside are under attack. Under attack by our very own Government.” 

Speaking in March about the Peak Cluster Pipeline, Councillor Alan Graves, Reform’s council leader, had said: “This council supports meaningful environmental action, but what we have before us in the Peak Cluster proposal is not that.

“It’s a project that asks our residents, our farmers, our countryside to bear enormous cost and risk for benefits that are distant, uncertain and achieved by far less damaging alternatives. 

“This is a 121-mile industrial pipeline cutting through the heart of Derbyshire. Through farmland, through communities, and through some of our environmentally sensitive landscapes, and we are being asked to accept it before the full safety framework is even in place.” 

The county council is merely a consultee in the decision-making process for both projects, along with other councils which cover the route, with the final say being given by Government ministers following public inquiries led by inspectors.

Both the Chesterfield to Willington powerline and the Peak Cluster Pipeline are currently in the pre-application stage ahead of acceptance of the applications and examination.

The Government’s national infrastructure application site says the Peak Cluster Pipeline project is not due to be submitted until September 2027, while the Chesterfield to Willington powerline application is set to be submitted next June.