Mayor urges Peak Cluster and National Grid to keep engaging with Derbyshire residents over major schemes

Credit: Onclusive News

The East Midlands Mayor has told how it is important two major proposed schemes affecting Derbyshire – including Peak Cluster’s carbon capture pipeline aimed at securing industry and National Grid’s pylon roll-out aimed at providing power – continue to engage with concerned residents.

Peak Cluster, made up of cement and lime producers in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, has outlined plans for a £59.6m project to build a 121 mile underground pipeline to carry captured carbon dioxide from four cement and lime producers across sites in the two counties out to the Irish Sea to support industry, and National Grid ‘s Chesterfield to Willington pylon scheme aims to roll-out around 60km of 50metre high electricity pylons across the county’s countryside to introduce cleaner and cheaper low carbon energy.

But despite concerns for the countryside and opposition to the carbon capture scheme due to safety worries, the East Midlands Combined County Authority Mayor, Claire Ward, feels the carbon capture scheme and the pylon plans could do well to protect industry and provide reliable and cheaper power as long as both continue to engage with residents.

Ms Ward said: “Derbyshire is part of Britain’s cement and lime industry and it’s important we protect that industry not just for our region but for the country, because what is at risk is that whole industry.”

She highlighted concerns about the cost of importing cement and lime from overseas and the rising costs in the construction industry making it difficult to build houses.

Ms Ward argued the Peak Cluster scheme is not only a safe project but it will safeguard existing jobs and create hundreds of new jobs.

She added: “Carbon capture is not new and untested and we are seeing a lot of scaremongering across social media. There are hundreds of projects, similar, operating across the world. It is proven and well-regarded technology.”

But Ms Ward added that Peak Cluster needs to engage more with residents and it needs to understand concerns particularly in relation to Derbyshire’s local environment.

She said: “It’s quite right people should continue to make the case about how to minimise that disruption and protect the natural environment.”

However, Derbyshire County Council has voted by a majority to oppose Peak Cluster’s plans due to safety concerns while agreeing to support the county’s quarries and cement industry to secure significant Government funding to reduce emissions at source.

Proposed work plants in the scheme include Buxton Lime’s Tunstead lime plant, at Tunstead Quarry, off Waterswallows Rd, in Buxton, Breedon’s Hope cement plant, at Pindale Road, in the Hope Valley, Tarmac’s Tunstead cement plant, at Waterswallows Road, Tunstead House, in Buxton, and Holcim’s Cauldon plant between Cauldon and Waterhouses villages in Staffordshire.

Peak Cluster held a consultation between January and February and an additional engagement phase between March and May and it is planning a further consultation later this year.

If approved, the plans will see carbon dioxide transported and stored permanently beneath the East Irish Sea which Peak Cluster claims will help to secure the future of Britain’s cement and lime industries while safeguarding and creating jobs and ensuring a reliable, ‘homemade’ supply of essential materials.

Spirit Energy’s Morecambe Net Zero project, which plans to transform gas fields in the Irish Sea into carbon dioxide storage sites, and Peak Cluster are expected to work together to jointly safeguard and create 13,000 jobs by 2050, according to Peak Cluster, with around 1,500 jobs created across the East Midlands and North West during construction.

Once the proposals are finalised, Peak Cluster aims to submit a Development Consent Order application in 2027 for Government approval with a view to the scheme being operational by 2032.

Ms Ward also told how National Grid’s plans to roll-out pylons across Derbyshire will be important to secure reliable and cheaper power but residents will need to be treated fairly with ‘tangible benefits’.

She said: “We need to think about how difficult it is in the UK to get reliable and cheaper power and clearly we need to get sufficient transmission from pylons to make electricity where it’s needed but local residents need to be treated fairly and need to see tangible benefits.”

Ms Ward suggested that affected residents’ homes in the path of pylons should get discounts with electricity bills and residents must be able to express their concerns about particular routes.

National Grid aims to introduce cleaner and cheaper low carbon energy with the scheme alongside claims that most farming can continue around the infrastructure, and that the scheme will help meet the challenges of climate change by producing less harmful energy.

A National Grid spokesperson has said the Chesterfield to Willington proposals will support the country’s energy transition and make sure the grid is ready to connect to more sources of low carbon electricity generated in Britain.

National Grid argues the project will transport clean energy from the North of England to homes and businesses in the Midlands and play an important role in building a more secure and resilient future energy system.

Derbyshire County Council’s previous Conservative administration raised objections to the scheme in September, 2024, during the first round of consultations, and the current Reform-controlled county council voted in December, 2025, in favour of opposing the Willington to Chesterfield pylon route and to call on National Grid to reconsider the route and explore less intrusive alternatives.

Stop The Pylons Derbyshire protestors also held a demonstration in December, 2025, outside the county council’s County Hall at Matlock claiming the scheme represents an unacceptable industrialisation of Derbyshire’s countryside, serving national transmission needs but offering very little benefit to the communities it will severely impact.

But National Grid, which held a second consultation between March and April, has recently introduced a new route in its plans for its proposed 37-mile long pylon scheme and insists it communication channels remain open to any questions and comments.

Previously, National Grid’s plans, which are so large they will be decided nationally by the secretary of state, had included pylons being built through Amber Valley from Clay Cross, past Alfreton and Ripley to Denby and Smalley.

But the second consultation involved a proposed new substation in the Chesterfield area – close to the existing Chesterfield Substation – and an alternative proposed route option for the new high voltage power line, in response to feedback, between Astwith and Alfreton to the east of the previously proposed area location.

The new proposed route, located to the east of the previously proposed energy line, avoids sensitive locations such as the River Amber valley, Ogston Reservoir and nearby listed buildings including Ogston Hall.

Ms Ward said: “National Grid has made alterations through Amber Valley but we need to make sure that local communities continue to be engaged in getting the right solution for this project.

“I want to see National Grid to be held to account about how this will happen, what the timelines are and the full mitigation but ultimately there needs to be long-term investment into these communities where residents can see direct benefits to any disruption.”

The scale of this project means the final decision about whether it goes ahead or not does not lie with any local planning authorities.

National Grid will have to apply to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order and the Planning Inspectorate will make a recommendation to the relevant Secretary of State who makes the final decision.

Originally an application was expected to be submitted for consideration by 2026 and if it is eventually approved construction could get underway by 2028 with an estimated, completed operational date in 2031.

National Grid has stated it wants to work with communities and stakeholders as it considers value for money for bill payers, the impact on the community and environment, planning policy, licence obligations and net zero targets.